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REQUEST FOR INFORMATION 

We want to form a Mission Study Class on the text book "Christian 
Democracy for America" in our Church and desire the "Suggestions for 
Leaders" and other material that will be of help in organizing and con- 
ducting it. 

Very truly yours, 



Name , 

Street and Number 

City or Town State 

Church 



MISSION STUDY ENROLLMENT 



Conference District 

Name of Local Church State 

Town or City State 

We formed a Mission Study Class of Members on (date) 

Under auspices of 

Leader of Class 

Address 

Second Vice-President of the Epworth League 

Address 



If the class is organized in the Epworth League, please send the above 
request to the Central office of the Epworth League, 740 Rush Street, 
Chicago, Illinois. 

If organized in the Sunday School, send to The Board of Sunday 
Schools, 58 East Washington Street, Chicago, Illinois. 

If organized under other auspices send to The Joint Centenary Com- 
mittee, 111 Fifth Avenue, New York. 






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Christian Democracy 
for America 



BY 

DAVID D. FORSYTH 

and 

RALPH WELLES EEELER 




THE METHODIST BOOK CONCERN 
NEW YORK CINCINNATI 



C i^ifa 






Copyright, 1918, by 
THE METHODIST BOOK CONCERN 



OCT -5 1918 
©GI.A506042 



D 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Foreword 11 

I. Democracy's Foundations 15 

II. The Rural Opportunity 7 39 

III. Our Future Citizens 67 

IV. " Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life" 91 

V. The Church and the Negro 119 

VI. Christian Democracy Power Plants 143 

VII. Variants of the Task .* 165 

VIII. The Challenge of the Christ 191 

Bibliography 211 

Appendix 213 



ILLUSTRATIONS 
"We're Going Over" Frontispiece ^ 

FACING PAGE 

The Old Frontier and the New 19 

Grandfather 's Rural Church 45 

A Modern Church in a Rural Community 45 

Mohammedan Children at Johnstown, Pennsylvania ... 69 

Children of the Nations at Ellis Island 69 

A Negro Neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio 125 

Sunday School at East Calvary Methodist Episcopal 

Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 125 

An Alaskan Family 165 

A Daughter of Hawaii 165 

The Water Wagon in Porto Rico 165 

The Gospel in the Open — Little Italy, New York City . . 191 » 
For Country and for God — Flag Raising at Bethel 
Ship, Norwegian-Danish Methodist Episcopal 
Church, Brooklyn, New York 191 ^ 



CHARTS AND MAPS 

PAGE 

The Frontier of the Methodist Episcopal Church 21 

Land Available and Rate of Acquisition 24 

United States Government Irrigation Projects 26 

Ten- Year Study of Methodist Frontier Work « . 29 

Membership of Methodist Episcopal Church Compared 

with State Population 41 

Rural Industrial America 43 

Why Ministers Leave the Country (White) 50 

Why Ministers Leave the Country (Negro) 51 

The "Supply" Problem in the Rural Methodist Epis- 
copal Church 56 

Protestant Population by States 72 

The Immigrant Zone 75 

Rapid Growth of Cities 94 

Where the Cities Grow 99 

Some Figures That Talk 131 

Where Leaders for Christian Democracy May Be 

Trained 157 

Frontier Variants of the Task 171 

Alaska — "Seward's Folly" and Our Opportunity 178 

The Halfway House of the Pacific 181 

Porto Rico, Showing Points Where the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church is Teaching Christian Democracy. . . 184 



FOREWORD 

m 

Two men stood in the Colosseum at Eome. 

* ' Think of the men who have stood here ! ' ' said one. 

" Think of the men who will! 9 ' said the other. 

That is the Christian outlook in all ages. It fronts the 
dawn. Its word of command is ' ' Eyes Front ! ' ' 

The one hundredth anniversary of the beginning of 
Methodist Missions in 1819 is not being celebrated by a 
history of the past but by a program for a future. The 
Centenary World Program of Methodism is an expression 
of the only answer which the Christian Church can make to 
a world at war — a vigorous and world-wide extension of the 
kingdom of God. 

Two volumes dealing with the place of Christianity in 
the world situation are published as part of the observance 
of the Centenary of Methodist Missions. 

The present volume considers the place of the Church 
through its home missions, in strengthening the forces of 
Christian democracy in our own land. A companion volume, 
The Christian Crusade for World Democracy, deals with the 
relation of Christian missions to world democracy. 

The books are designed for use in Mission Study classes 
in Epworth Leagues, young people's societies, church 
groups, and Sunday schools, as well as for general reading. 

The authors of Christian Democracy for America desire 
to acknowledge the helpful suggestions made by the superin- 
tendents of the several departments of the Board of Home 
Missions and Church Extension of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. They wish also to give credit to Miss Edith M. 
Williamson, for the research work done and her careful 
work upon many of the maps used, to Rev. Crawford Trotter 
for writing the immigrant chapter as it appeared in the 
summer edition, to the Rev. Paul Barton, for work done on 
the preliminary draft of the chapter on The Challenge of the 

Christ, to Dr. I. Garland Penn, corresponding secretary of 

11 



12 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

the Freedmen's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, for material and suggestions for the chapter on 
' ' The Negro and the Church, ' ' and to Mr. Carl F. Price for 
his careful reading of the manuscript and helpful criticism. 

America will be what we make it. May the words of 
Katherine Lee Bates be our song as we labor to make it a 
land of Christian democracy. 

"0 beautiful for spacious skies, 

For amber waves of grain, 
For purple mountain majesties 

Above the fruited plain. 
America ! America ! 

God shed his grace on thee, 
And crown thy good with brotherhood 

From sea to shining sea! 

"0 beautiful for pilgrim feet, 

Whose stern, impassioned stress 
A thoroughfare for freedom beat 

Across the wilderness! 
America ! America ! 

God mend thine every flaw, 
Confirm thy soul in self control, 

Thy liberty in law! 

"O beautiful for heroes proved 

In liberating strife, 
Who more than self their country loved, 

And mercy more than life. 
America ! America ! 

May God thy gold refine, 
Till all success be nobleness, 

And every gain divine! 

"O beautiful for patriot dream 
That sees beyond the years 
Thine alabaster cities gleam 

Undimmed by human tears! 
America ! America ! 

God shed his grace on thee, 
And crown thy good with brotherhood 
From sea to shining sea!" 



I was listening to the most wonderful narrative I had ever heard. 
Or, no, I did not listen. The low-ceiled room, lined on every side with 
books, vanished. I sailed across uncharted seas with a band of men 
and women who were daring unknown dangers to be free. I saw them 
in their winning struggles with the wilderness and with the Indians. 
In the same cause of freedom I boarded a boat with them in the night, 
and watched them fling casks of tea into the dark waters about them. 
I rode with Paul Revere, and heard the shots of the minute men at 
Lexington and Concord. I heard the deathless words of Nathan Hale 
as he waited his doom. I cheered a dashing man named Arnold as he 
turned the tide of victory at Saratoga, and, with sinking heart, saw him 
turn traitor afterward. I suffered with Washington at Valley Forge 
and marched beside him on and on, until I stood before Yorktown, 
and saw freedom again win its victory. . . . He had magically 
swept open the door into an undiscovered land — my undiscovered land 
— where men dared all for freedom with a red-white-and-blue flag 
waving above them. — Arthur Goodrich, in The Sign of Freedom. 

The hand of destiny has prepared us for this day. From the 
day when the Puritan fled from the thraldom of autocracy to find a 
new home in a new West, the hand of the Omnipotent has guided us. 
With the building of the home went the establishment of the church 
and the schoolhouse, to guide us in the free and open worship of our 
God and in the teaching of our youth the fundamental principles of 
democracy. A great continent developed before us. The rich coal 
deposits and vast forests of the North, the mighty steel industries and 
the numerous manufactories of the East, the great cotton fields of the 
South, and the full granaries of the West — all these were developed to 
make us the wealthiest nation in the world. At last the hour has come, 
in the world crisis, when resources shall weigh the scale for autocracy or 
democracy. — B. Lawrence Coughlin, in The Star of the West. 

The only kind of Christianity that is going ultimately to succeed 
anywhere is the kind that works here in America, for sooner or later 
all the objections, philosophical, commercial, and otherwise, which are 
met in America must be faced elsewhere. What the world has been 
waiting for through the centuries is a sample Christian nation. America 
has the best chance of being that sample. Consequently, every move- 
ment which better expresses Christian ideals in American life makes 
easier the task of the missionary abroad. On the other hand, any 
custom that is unjust makes more difficult the task of our foreign work- 
ers. — Edward Laird Mills. 



CHAPTER I 
DEMOCRACY'S FOUNDATIONS 

A Spokesman for World Democracy 

America has become spokesman for world democracy. 
The experiment expressed in the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence has proved a dream worthy the acceptance of all 
people. From the national capital of the United States of 
America has gone forth the challenge which is to change the 
status of human relationships the world over. On the streets 
of Bombay and in the tea houses of China men are discuss- 
ing the meaning of a democracy for which the world must 
be made safe at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives. 
An ideal of human brotherhood, economic justice and social 
fair play is being interpreted by folks who gave it scant heed 
a few months ago. The minds of men are aflame with the 
the fires of a new day. And America, only a short time ago 
a handful of colonists with a new idea, but now a nation one 
hundred and four millions strong, is leading the way to a 
practical application of all that the term " democracy ' ' 
means. 

And what does "democracy" mean! It is not a mere 
rhetorical catchword. Wrought out in the rough school of a 
nation's development, it is a part of the life of a people seek- 
ing the highest form of self-government, both as individuals 
and as a nation. For only as individuals prove the theory 
of personal self-government are they able successfully to 
apply its principles nationally to affairs which concern the 
larger group. In demonstrating ability for self-government 
one best learns what democracy means. But statements 
brought to utterance by the world war give a firm foundation 
for democracy's interpretation. President Wilson pleads 
for "fair dealing, justice, the freedom to live and be at ease 

15 



16 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

against organized wrong, . . . the right of those who sub- 
mit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, 
for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal 
dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall 
bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world 
itself at last free.' ' 

Such a statement implies a background of national life 
capable of bringing to fruition the ideals which it embodies. 
It suggests a development which has forced into practice the 
theories upon which it is based. It calls up the struggle to 
clear the forests. It sees the prairie schooner lumbering 
along the rough and tiresome trail. Log cabins in the 
wilderness, the fight to maintain existence, the efforts to 
raise and educate a family under adverse conditions, all 
come to mind. Communities take the place of stockade forts. 
Commonwealths with citizens striving for the good of all 
multiply. And suddenly, out of the apparent lack of a 
national consciousness, men are seen marching to battle for 
the ideals of "my country.' ' In an hour of world chaos the 
nation has risen to declare by every form of sacrifice that it 
believes implicitly in all that it has taught and sung. 

Democracy's Foundations 

This manifestation of sacrificial devotion speaks elo- 
quently for the foundations upon which our democracy 
rests. As a nation we have not reached perfection. There 
is still a long road to travel. We may even ask ourselves if 
our nation has become so righteous, so filled with the spirit 
of economic and social justice, so alive to the real content of 
the term "brotherhood,' ' so keen to worship God and do his 
will, that we are ready to give to the world a form of religion 
that will make possible the practical applications of all that 
democracy involves. But the fact that religion of a practical 
character enters into the most fundamental aspects of our 
thinking of democracy cheers the heart of the world to 
expect great things from us, for the foundations of our na- 
tional life are rooted in faith in God. 



DEMOCRACY'S FOUNDATIONS 17 

A seeking to know God has been a part of the whole 
adventure of settling the United States. Along with the 
growth of the nation has gone the growth of the Christian 
Church. Many of the early pioneers carried with them not 
only the dream of new communities but also the purpose to 
make these communities Christian. The preacher went 
along with the pathfinder and homesteader. As railroads 
pushed their way over the mountains and across the plains 
the church sent out its home missionaries in order that the 
people might not forget God in their new environment. The 
same folks who toiled in the forest or in the field during the 
week gathered on Sunday to hear the message of the Christ. 
Only in those settlements where no minister was provided 
did the ardor for the kingdom of God disappear. And the 
people from such communities have had to take cognizance 
of the Christian idealism of those who held to the worship of 
God when it has come to the formulating of the larger 
policies of government. 

What a tribute to the faith of our fathers is the work 
which has been done by the public schools ! They believed in 
an intelligent knowledge of God and provided for the train- 
ing of the young so that they might have a faith that would 
endure. Here the story of the stars and stripes was woven 
into the lessons of the day. Patriotism was taught. The 
atmosphere of learning had in it a devotion which would 
last through life. It was all a part of the larger ministry of 
the church, because churchmen were always the first to 
recognize the need of education and most eager to help pro- 
vide it. They felt it essential to the establishment of the 
right kind of homes. Around the open fire at night it was 
possible to give practical application to the principles of 
democracy learned in the log school during the day. The 
public school, the home and the church have worked as one in 
promulgating the principles which now are the rock-bed 
foundation of our national ideals. 

Every denomination has contributed to the great ad- 
venture of settling the country and providing the settlers 



18 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

with high ideals of thought and life. The very hugeness of 
the task has demanded the best that every expression of reli- 
gion could give. It is not the job of any one denomination. 
The very idea of democracy would exclude such a thought. 
And to-day, more than at any time in the history of the reli- 
gious bodies of the United States, is there a tendency toward 
Christian unity of effort and practical cooperation. How 
this will hasten the day when Christian democracy will be 
the ruling practice of the land ! The nation is looking to the 
Church for greater leadership than has been furnished. In 
the story of what one denomination has done and is plan- 
ning comes the challenge for all denominations to recognize 
the fact that to-day is the hour of the nation's need. Now 
may service be rendered that will count forever. 

Methodism a Force for Democracy 

In the task of Christianizing the democracy of America 
the Methodist Episcopal Church has had a worthy part. 
The circuit rider was an early arrival in the history of our 
country. From hamlet to hamlet he ministered as he found 
opportunity. Nor was he a recluse of the study. One of 
those to whom he preached, he was as concerned as were they 
over the material development of the country. When Jason 
Lee discovered the great possibilities for the United States 
in the Oregon Country he counted it as much a part of his 
ministry to plead with national leaders to acquire this valu- 
able land as he did to present the doctrine of Christian 
brotherhood among those who were then living in the Wil- 
lamette Valley. 

The first Protestant sermon preached west of the Rocky 
Mountains was delivered in 1834 by Jason Lee near the 
present site of Blackfoot, Idaho. When the Missionary 
Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized 
in 1819 there were only three white, Anglo-Saxon, permanent 
settlements in all the territory now comprised in the frontier 
States and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, 
Texas, Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri. Saint Louis, on the 




THE OLD FRONTIER AND THE NEW 



DEMOCRACY'S FOUNDATIONS 19 

Mississippi, was an outfitting point for the western fur trade 
and was more French than English. Van Couver, on the 
Columbia River, was under the control of the British Hud- 
son Bay Company. Astoria, one hundred miles farther 
down the same stream, had been feebly touched with Amer- 
ican influence by John Jacob Astor. 

Yet it was this section of the country which decided the 
issues of the Presidential election of 1916, and which is 
destined to become more and more influential in political 
affairs. It is now the most purely and intensely American 
section of the country, and the intrepid and adventurous 
Methodist circuit rider had much to do with making it so. 
To these Knights of the Saddlebag is due in no small degree 
the deeply embedded ethical sense which now flowers out so 
beautifully in wholesome habits and beneficent statutes. 
Nine of the twelve frontier States now are "dry," while 
Nevada and Wyoming are to vote on prohibition in the fall 
of 1918. Most of these States also have woman suffrage 
and laws for workmen's compensation, regulation of public 
utilities, the abolition of child labor, the minimum wage, the 
limitation of hours of service for women, and the initiative, 
referendum, and recall. Christian democracy? The circuit 
rider could not have dreamed of the results which would thus 
come in part from his arduous labors and ministry. 

A Tkibute to the Circuit Rider 

In addressing the delegates to the General Conference 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1908 President Theo- 
dore Roosevelt said: "The Methodist Church plays a great 
part in many lands ; and yet I think I can say that in none 
other has it played so great and peculiar a part as here in 
the United States. Its history is indissolubly interwoven 
with the history of our country for the six score years since 
the constitutional convention made us really a nation. Meth- 
odism in America entered on its period of rapid growth just 
about the time of Washington's first presidency. Its essen- 
tial democracy, its fiery and restless energy of spirit, and 



20 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

the wide play that it gave to individual initiative all tended 
to make it peculiarly congenial to a hardy and virile folk, 
democratic to the core, prizing individual independence 
above all earthly possessions, and engaged in the rough and 
stern work of conquering a continent. Methodism spread 
even among the old communities and long-settled districts 
of the Atlantic tidewater; but its phenomenal growth was 
from these regions westward. The whole country is under 
debt of gratitude to the Methodist circuit riders, the Meth- 
odist pioneer preacher, whose movement westward kept pace 
with the movement of the frontier, who shared all the hard- 
ships in the life of the frontiersman, while at the same time 
ministering to that frontiersman's spiritual needs, and see- 
ing that his pressing material cares and the hard and grind- 
ing poverty of his life did not wholly extinguish the divine 
fire within his soul." 

The Modern Frontier 

The rapidity of settlement of any country depends in 
part upon the amount of tillable land available. This ac- 
counts for the vast stretches of land passed over by early 
settlers pushing westward. The rush to the Pacific Coast 
wiped out the frontier in a technical sense. In reality it left 
a great frontier in between more settled sections of the 
country. Because of this the frontier still remains for the 
church. Twelve great States comprise the frontier as de- 
fined for the home mission work of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. "While there are a few strong cities within this 
boundary, for the most part the land is but sparsely settled. 
By actual census the State of New York has a larger popu- 
lation than the combined States of Arizona, California, 
Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, 
North Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Five peo- 
ple to a square mile does not crowd anyone very roughly. 
The abundant resources of this frontier have been and will 
be utilized only as the increasing pressure of population 
forces development. Our geographies long since ceased to 



22 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

mark a portion of the map with the romantic term "fron- 
tier." But there will be frontier conditions and problems 
until the population becomes much more dense than it is 
to-day, and that time is a long and indefinite period in the 
future. During this interim the church must continue to 
make sure that the foundations of our democracy are 
cemented together by the teachings and principles of Jesus 
Christ. 

Available Lands foe Settlement 

New settlers are constantly crowding into the frontier 
section. The land to be obtained is plentiful. And as they 
come to build new homes and lay out new communities the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, in common with other de- 
nominations, must meet the developing religious needs. On 
account of the general impression that the frontier has 
passed away hundreds of towns and villages have been left 
without any Protestant church whatever. The seriousness 
for democracy of such a condition is seen when it is noted 
that the total number of homestead patents issued in fron- 
tier territory by land officers in these States for 1917 was 
43,727, a number exceeded only in 1913-14. Over 100,000 
original homestead entries were made in the same time. In 
one of these States four out of ten land offices registered at 
the rate of over 100 homesteads a week. In Montana alone 
over 3,000,000 acres were appropriated and still there are 
11,000,000 acres to be disposed of in this way. The 60,000,- 
000 acres given to the frontier States for educational pur- 
poses are also finding their way into the hands of intending 
settlers, either by rental or sale. In one instance, in 1917, 
$1,250,000 worth of such land was sold for an average price 
of $17.84 an acre. Some of it brought $40 an acre. All of 
this land was unirrigated. 

The sale of railroad land is making available for settle- 
ment other opportunities for the adventurous homesteader. 
In these same States the government, in order to secure the 
building of the great transcontinental railroads, gave them 



DEMOCRACY'S FOUNDATIONS 23 . 

over 60,000,000 acres of land along their right of way. The 
Canadian Pacific Eailroad sold in 1917 over 750,000 acres 
of the land which it secured in this way. The irrigated land 
sold for $46 an acre, the unirrigated for $16. Most of this 
land lies directly north of our frontier and is similar in 
natural characteristics to our own. There are also hundreds 
of thousands of acres of "logged-ofr* " lands in the North- 
west, owned by lumber companies and at present held at dis- 
couraging prices. As the population pressure increases the 
high prices demanded will be paid. The fact that over a mil- 
lion acres of Indian lands were sold in 1917 indicates the 
rapidity with which people are occupying these present-day 
opportunities of the West. 

The great private grants, given in the days of Spanish 
and Mexican domination in California and New Mexico, 
must also be taken into account. Nearly one half of the 
coast land of California for twenty-five miles inland was 
given in such grants. The Maxwell grant near Cimarron, in 
New Mexico, is 35 by 55 miles in extent and contains 1,714,- 
764 acres. Only 5,000 acres of this land was farmed while 
the original owner was alive. The Beale Ranch of 170,000 
acres in the San Joaquin Valley, in California, was divided 
for sale as late as 1912. These grants tend constantly to be 
broken up and sold in smaller lots. 

Finally there are the numerous large private ranches, 
variously acquired, all over the frontier. A striking ex- 
ample of this sort of possession is the Miller and Lux 
ranches in California, which extend from San Diego to 
Oregon. It is said that the owners could drive their cattle or 
sheep from Mexico to Oregon without having to camp over- 
night on any land not owned by the firm. The acreage of 
these ranches runs into the millions and it has been conserv- 
atively valued at $30,000,000. Recent scientific studies and 
experiments, by which careful preparation of the soil in dry- 
farming areas produces crops with an annual rainfall as low 
as ten or twelve inches, lead to the assumption that most of 
this land is potentially agricultural. 






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DEMOCRACY'S FOUNDATIONS 25 

Irrigation 

Irrigation is adding to the acreage available for culti- 
vation. In a literal sense it is making the desert blossom and 
bear frnit. By a process of dams and canals or ditches, 
water is provided the thirsty land as the need requires. This 
makes possible the cultivation of land for years considered 
to be useless for agricultural purposes. In 1915 there was 
an irrigable area of 1,405,000 acres on irrigation projects 
owned by the United States. Eight hundred and fifty thou- 
sand acres were actually "cropped" or cultivated, while a 
million acres were actually irrigated. The accompanying 
map shows only the irrigation projects under the control of 
the United States Reclamation Service. Extensive use has 
been made also of the Carey Land Act, in which the States 
participate. Moreover, all along the water courses of the 
Rocky Mountains irrigation to the extent of the then avail- 
able water resources was practiced for many years by pri- 
vate individuals before the national government became 
interested in it. The irrigated acreage of all sorts is now 
15,000,000. This is ten times the area shown on the map; 
40,000,000 additional acres could be irrigated if sufficient 
capital were expended in constructing dams, reservoirs, and 
ditches. The Triickee-Carson project in Nevada has 200,000 
acres of irrigable land, only one sixth of which is actually 
irrigated and cultivated. It will be some years, therefore, 
before this project and others like it reach their full develop-, 
ment. The irrigation projects with the small-sized farm and 
intensive cultivation present opportunities for a complete 
and fine community life. Four or five thousand acres of 
cultivated land will sustain a good-sized town, where the 
farmers may live together and enjoy good social and edu- 
cational advantages. 

Characteristics of the Frontier 

The newness of the frontier is what makes it an urgent 
challenge to the church. So far as its Anglo-Saxon and 
Protestant civilization is concerned it is mostly less than two 



26 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

generations old. This newness means that financial re- 
sources for the development of the country must come from 
outside. When the land is taken up by homesteaders it is 
but the beginning. Everyone is obliged to begin from the 



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UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT IRRIGATION PROJECTS IN 
FRONTIER TERRITORY 



ground up. Each settler must build a barn instead of 
inheriting one from his ancestors. Houses to live in, school- 
houses for the children, courthouses, public business build- 



DEMOCRACY'S FOUNDATIONS 27 

ings, churches, parsonages, roads, fences, bridges, culverts — 
everything must be provided at once. It is a staggering task, 
but it must be done. Public buildings may be built out of the 
proceeds of bond issues and the cost passed on to another 
generation. Mercantile houses, elevators, and banks may 
be built on credit. And the local church is at a great disad- 
vantage unless the church at large can be drawn on for sub- 
stantial assistance. This is the raison d'etre for home mis- 
sion and church extension aid. 

Modern methods of communication and transportation 
have caused increased rapidity in frontier development in 
recent years. The map is ever changing. The town of 
Richey, Montana, is an illustration. The secretary of the 
Chamber of Commerce writes that "lots were sold on August 
18, 1916, and our town is only eighteen months old. We have 
a population of about 450, with forty business places divided 
among every possible enterprise. There are five grain 
elevators, two steam-heated hotels, three poolrooms, two 
garages, four hardware stores, four restaurants, three 
lawyers, three land officers, two banks with over $120,000 
each, two drug stores, four general stores, two blacksmith 
shops, a bakery, a dentist, a bowling alley and shooting 
gallery, a brick moving-picture theater, five lumber yards, a 
confectionery, a shoe-repairing shop, a theater and dance- 
hall combined, a two-room and concrete basement school 
with about fifty pupils and two teachers, two butcher shops, 
and one church with a very small attendance. ' ' 

It is the last item which sounds a challenge to Christian 
democracy. The very rapidity of modern frontier growth 
accentuates the need for promptness. And Methodism must 
be alert to hear the cry. Help for the adequate presentation 
of the message of the Christ must be given from outside the 
community. The church which renders largest service will 
be the church which is on hand with its ministry of inspira- 
tion and help when the community is just starting. Material 
development must have first call with people in new com- 
munities. But as soon as the first stress is over they are 



28 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA . 

able and willing to support their own church enterprises. 
The church problem is therefore urgent. With the rapidity 
of material development due to railroad and telegraph facil- 
ities the urgency increases. Shall the church hold back? 
Has it not as adventurous a spirit as investors in Western 
stocks and bonds ? Adequate leadership to mold the life of 
the community in the ways of Christian democracy while 
still plastic is needed. Shall not some of the money sent 
East from the enterprise of the West be returned in the form 
of leadership of this character ? 

The failure of the church to be prompt in its statesman- 
ship decreases the power of the nation to lead the people of 
the earth in the finest ways of life and thinking. It also ac- 
counts for some of the church and national problems which 
will have to be met by succeeding generations. There is rea- 
son to believe that the failure of the evanglical church to 
enter Northern California in force and with adequate or- 
ganization in the decade 1849-59, when social life was in flux, 
is responsible for the slow growth of Christian idealism 
there during the years since. And had home missionaries 
been sent in adequate force to the moving population of the 
Mississippi Valley in 1830, there would doubtless be no 
Mormon problem such as exists to-day. 

Along with the newness and rapidity of development of 
the frontier goes the element of chance. The adventurous 
spirit still has an opportunity to try his luck. Uncertainty 
shadows every dream of success. In fruit sections there 
must be unceasing warfare waged against insects. The diffi- 
culties of marketing have to be overcome. Often irrigation 
engineers underestimate the cost of a project. This means 
that the settler must pay much more than he had anticipated. 
Ditches may break or the dams go out through faulty con- 
struction. The building of a proposed railroad may be de- 
layed for years. Drought may come in dry-farming sec- 
tions. Even in agricultural communities the settlers learn 
to take a chance. What a place for the church to build its 
foundations into the lives of men and women ! Inasmuch as 



DEMOCRACY'S FOUNDATIONS 



29 




A TEN-YEAR STUDY OP METHODIST EPISCOPAL FRONTIER 
ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORK 



the world is the parish of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
what matters it that here and there an enterprise is started 
and the people have to give np and move away! These folks 
are going to live somewhere. They will take the Kingdom 
with them. 

A Challenge from the Mines 

This element of chance and the worthwhileness of tak- 



30 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

ing it is particularly true in mining communities, especially 
those where high-grade ores are found. There is a town in 
Utah which illustrates this. At one time it was fourth in size 
in the State. In 1900 it has a population of 2,351. In 1910 
there were but 1,047. To-day the population numbers two, 
and they are hired watchmen. For a number of years the 
Board of Home Missions and Church Extension maintained 
a Methodist church there, and still owns the church property. 
Shall the word ' ' failure ' ' be painted on the church door and 
across the record of the men whose judgment fathered the 
enterprise 1 The field moved away. But the influence of the 
ministry of that church is to-day blessing other commu- 
nities. And two of the laymen who once worked in this 
church are now district superintendents in other Western 
States a thousand miles away. 

Even when the community does not move away it is 
difficult to build up strong and stable churches in mining 
centers. For one thing, the spirit of restlessness is prev- 
alent. Some are leaving and others coming all the time. 
The nature of the miner's occupation contributes somewhat 
to recklessness and a lack of regard for conventional and 
time-honored institutions. Regular habits of church-going 
are interfered with by the changing hours of labor. With 
such systems as the triple shift, where the miners work eight 
hours a day (an excellent thing in itself), the shift moving 
forward to a different eight hours each week, the preacher 
can have only one third of his congregation present at any 
one time, and that one third different every two weeks. The 
household habits of the miners are effected by the shift on 
which they work, as are also the habits of their wives and 
children. Moreover, as physical conditions become more 
difficult there is a tendency for American, English, Irish, and 
Welsh miners to go to work "on top," or to leave mining 
altogether. The places of these are taken by Italians and 
Fins or any one of half a dozen Slavic groups. These peo- 
ple are very hard for the evangelical church to reach. So 
the challenge to adventure for the Kingdom increases. The 



DEMOCRACY'S FOUNDATIONS 31 

opportunity for propagating Christian democracy, while 
more difficult, becomes more necessary. 

Labor troubles become frequent with the change of per- 
sonnel of the miners. The old-time miners were marked by 
individualistic thought and action. The newcomers, mostly 
non-English speaking, are easily moved by leaders speaking 
their native tongue. The gradual passing of the mining in- 
terests under the control of large corporations, with all the 
evils of absentee ownership and frequently of tactless man- 
agement, has resulted in serious trouble in the labor field. 
Strikes in Colorado a few years ago in the high-grade mines 
had serious consequences, duplicated by the more recent 
troubles among the coal miners of that State. An ex-gov- 
ernor of the State of Idaho was blown up in his home as an 
incidental result of these same troubles. Such conditions are 
a concern of the Christian Church. A democracy that is rife 
with struggles between classes of any character will not 
bring comfort and encouragement to people of other lands. 
It is decidedly un-American, to say nothing about its being 
unchristian. Who has failed at this point in the under- 
taking to bring practice up to the ideals cherished 1 In Rock 
Springs, a small mining community in Wyoming, twenty-six 
different languages are spoken. Who has neglected the task 
of Americanization? How will democracy get a chance in 
such a place? Has not the spiritual commonwealth where 
all men meet as equal before God a decided mission right 
here 1 

Unless our democracy is Christian at heart labor 
troubles will continue forever. In Utah labor unions have 
little standing or influence. The lot of the laboring man 
there is not what it should be. In Montana the passing away 
of the Western Federation of Miners was followed by a 
period of industrial anarchy. This has only recently settled 
down to a certain extent. In Bisbee, Arizona, in the summer 
of 1917, the miners were forbidden to join the American Fed- 
eration of Labor. The I. W. W. saw the open door, quietly 
organized the men, and a strike followed which seriously 



32 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

handicapped the government in its task of winning the war. 
The town officials, many of them influential in mining com- 
panies, took a hand. They loaded more than eleven hundred 
of the strikers and some supplies on cattle cars and shipped 
them into the desert of New Mexico. This illegal and un- 
democratic action not only embittered the laboring men of 
Arizona, but also had deleterious effects upon the morale of 
the shipbuilders and lumber workers of the Pacific Coast. 
The finding of indictments against thosp responsible for the 
deporting of their fellows does not lessen the responsibility 
of those who failed to make such a proceeding impossible. 

Shall the problems presented in such communities be 
labeled "A difficult task," or shall the forces of Christianity 
be marshaled in a great adventure for Christian democracy! 
What is the adventure! A field to be made Christian and 
American where families are broken up and have to leave ; 
the strengthening of sadly interrupted social and community 
work ; the putting of the ideals of social, moral, and religious 
life into terms of everyday living ; the creating of a situation 
where the unfettered message of Christian truth may be 
uttered. For in practically all mineral sections the title of 
church property is given by mining companies only in the 
form of a lease. Hence if the message and policy of the 
church does not suit the mining officials, they could close the 
church doors and force the preacher to depart. Is there not 
a task worthy the mettle of the fathers here ! Why boast of 
our advance over their day unless we make Christianity 
count where so much needed! 

Where Men Are Alone 

And what of the cowboy and the sheepherder ! For they 
come in between the day of the buffalo and the day of the 
plow. More than 400,000,000 acres are still available for 
stockraising purposes. The largest section of this sort is in 
central Oregon, where one may travel for two hundred miles 
without crossing a railroad. In regions wholly given to 
stockraising it is difficult to establish and maintain churches. 



DEMOCRACY'S FOUNDATIONS 33 

Few cowboys or sheepherders are married. Where there 
are no families there is no settled community. And where 
there is no community there can be no normal church. But 
the needs of these men are as great, if not greater, than those 
of men in favored communities. The traveling missionary 
has here his opportunity. And he must be busy at his task 
as long as stockraising sections exist. The tendency is for 
these sections to pass over into agriculture. Then the regu- 
lar ministry of the church will have an opportunity to prove 
its usefulness. 

Nor must the lumber camp and sawmill town be for- 
gotten. Here the work is seasonal and the workmen tran- 
sients. Many of these men are unmarried. Not a few of 
them come to think that they are without standing in society 
and thus offer a fruitful field for I. W. W. propaganda. 
The Methodist Episcopal Church has a few churches in 
lumbering communities, but up to the present very little 
special work has been done among the lumber workers. At 
the present time there are 350,000 men engaged in the lumber 
industry in the West. The amount of timber still standing 
is so great that it will take many years to cut it down and 
work it up. One denomination has realized the need of 
church workers for these men and has ten missionaries in 
the lumber towns and camps. But what are ten missionaries 
for 350,000 lumberjacks ? Shall we say that the obligation is 
being met and pass it by ? 

A Summons to the Chukch 

There are other variants of the frontier task. For pur- 
poses of administration the Board of Home Missions and 
Church Extension of the Methodist Episcopal Church in- 
cludes in its frontier work the Indian, the Mormons, the 
Spanish- American, Porto Rico, Hawaii, and Alaska. But of 
these a little later. Their needs vary. The general problem 
for the frontier is the securing of larger initial gifts for the 
building of churches and parsonages, and larger rooms 
where they are needed. The rectangular church used purely 



34 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

for purposes of worship is not much in demand these days. 
With no special facilities for religious education or social 
life it makes but small appeal alongside of the modern, well- 
equipped, consolidated public school. The Centenary of 
Methodist Missions gives the opportunity to install equip- 
ment that is adequate from the beginning, and thus control 
community life in a dignified way. Such a thing has been 
dreamed for years by those who have seen the need. Have 
we come to a day when dreams of the Kingdom co^e true 1 

Social service is a dream materialized. It must be more 
and more a part of such ministry as the church gives to the 
families of railroad, mining, and smelting settlements. Here 
and in the lumber camps a considerable part of the popula- 
tion is foreign-speaking and the intellectual and religious 
background either sacerdotal or agnostic. Structures which 
offer unusual opportunities for community service must be 
erected in these places. Staff workers of peculiar fitness 
must be provided. There is practically no limit to the needs 
of this character in the church 's great frontier. 

The good old days of the pioneer preacher are gone. 
But the task has not vanished with him. The bustling Ford 
has taken the place of the trusty nag. A college and semi- 
nary training must supplant the knowledge gathered along 
the journey from one community to another. The sod 
church and the log meetinghouse no longer suffice. There is 
practically no community in the United States but what 
needs a more efficient ministry of the Word of God than it 
now has. And when it comes to the vast sections which are 
called frontier the need is alarming. But it takes a goodly 
amount of money suddenly to equip the church for its real 
task of Christianizing the democracy of the country. And 
the church has no private purse. It is dependent upon its 
membership for those funds which it may use to spread its 
'ministry into those places where there is at the present time 
no adequate ministry, and to make more efficient its ministry 
where for years it has existed along the lines of the ex- 
pressed needs of the times of our fathers. 



DEMOCRACY'S FOUNDATIONS 35 

But what is the question of money in a time like ours ? 
In celebrating the Centenary of Methodist Missions the 
leaders of the Methodist Episcopal Church are seeking to 
discover what its obligation is in the stupendous task for 
making the world safe for democracy. The nation is asking 
the church that it help to develop a democracy that is worth 
fighting for to make safe the world over. This cannot be 
done in any small retail way. There must be a steady and 
rapid advance. Equipment and men must be provided in 
large quantities. Such advance must be made that there will 
be a definite realization on the part of those who do not yet 
accept God as their God, that the Church of Jesus Christ is 
desperately in earnest. The challenge must be met so that 
people everywhere shall understand that so far as its part of 
the undertaking is concerned, this nation shall of a truth 
have a democracy of the sort that will be worth dying for in 
order that it may not perish from the earth. 

Questions for Discussion 

1. In what sense has America become the spokesman 
for world democracy? 

2. How does the background of our national life em- 
phasize the necessity of this democracy's being Christian? 

3. In what way has Methodism been a force for Chris- 
tian democracy? 

4. Discuss President Roosevelt's tribute to the circuit 
rider. 

5. What is comprised in the modern frontier? 

6. What lands are available now for settlement? Dis- 
cuss the part played by irrigation in the settling of the West. 

7. What are the chief characteristics of the modern 
frontier? 

8. What challenge to the church comes from conditions 
in western mining sections ? 

9. Discuss the obligation of the church to the cowboy 
and sheepherder, the lumberjack and sawmill operative. 

10. How important is the summons which comes to the 



36 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

Methodist Episcopal Church, on the one hundredth anniver- 
sary of its missionary work? 

11. Why must the church make democracy worth the 
terrible sacrifice of lives being made to preserve it? 

12. In what way does the spreading of Christian de- 
mocracy become our personal concern? 



It has been assumed by many students of social phenomena that 
the relations to be found in rural life are relatively simple; and that 
urban life presents much more serious problems for solution as well 
as a much richer field for the study of the play of social forces. Those 
most familiar with the social reactions in rural life agree that, while 
the problems they present may be of a somewhat different type, they 
are no less rich in the contribution they promise to the solution of some 
of the greatest practical questions of social theory. They also pre- 
sent a strong appeal to the student of social science because the 
small community, well organized, promises to become a very important 
favor in future social organization because of its firm foundation in 
the inherited instincts of the race. No problems of social relationships 
present a better source for study than do the associations to be found 
in village and rural life. — Paul L. Vogt, in Introduction to Rural 
Sociology. 

Why blame the village poolroom because the boys and young men 
spend their evenings there? They enjoy the click of the pool balls and 
the ragtime music of the player piano. Why find fault at the swap- 
ping of unseemly stories at the general store at Hank's Corner? The 
men have a good time and it is a great treat for the small boy. Why 
raise a howl at the opening of a dance hall at Peters Creek or a "movie" 
theater at Bensons? The people who back these enterprises in response 
to the social needs of rural life have scored against the church of 
Jesus Christ at an important point; they have catered to human 
interest and have gotten results. — The Church at the Center. 

Next to war, pestilence, and famine, the worst thing that can 
happen to a rural community is absentee landlordism. In the first place, 
the rent is all collected and sent out of the neighborhood to be spent 
somewhere else; but that is the least of the evils. In the second place, 
there is no one in the neighborhood who has any permanent interest 
in it except as a source of income. The tenants do not feel like spend- 
ing any time or money in beautification, or in improving the moral or 
social surroundings. Their one interest is to get as large an income 
from the land as they can in the immediate present. Because they do 
not live there, the landlords care nothing for the community, except as 
a source of rent, and they will not spend anything in local improve- 
ments unless they see that it will increase rent. Therefore such a 
community looks bad, and possesses the legal minimum in the way 
of schools, churches, and other agencies for social improvement. In 
the third place, and worst of all, the landlords and tenants live so far 
apart and see one another so infrequently as to furnish very little 
opportunity for mutual acquaintance and understanding. Therefore 
class antagonism arises, and bitterness of feeling shows itself in a 
variety of ways. — Thomas Nixon Carver. 



CHAPTER II 
THE RURAL OPPORTUNITY 

A Challenge to Christian Democracy 

Democracy knows no local boundaries. It thrives 
wherever people grasp the significance of its meaning. Free 
discussion of its doctrines stir the people of rural commu- 
nities just as it does the men and women on the busy city 
streets. And in the rural sections is one of the greatest op- 
portunities for making democracy Christian that the Church 
of Jesus Christ has before it, for to-day the bulk of the popu- 
lation of the United States is in the open country, the village, 
and the small town. These communities have not yet 
reached the fullest development in community consciousness. 
The mind of the people has been more centered on the indi- 
vidual struggle for existence than is the case in larger towns 
and cities. The opportunity to have a part in the rapid de- 
velopment which is now bound to come not only presents an 
opportunity, it also speaks in terms of a challenge which 
must be met for the larger interests of the national life. For 
out of the 53 7/10 per cent of the folk power of the land will 
come thousands of the youth who will be determining factors 
in the policies which our country will adopt for years to 
come. Shall their vision be built entirely on the teachings of 
statesmen, or shall the message of the prophet also enter into 
the conceptions of democracy which shall drive them to 
action? It is for the rural church to answer, and back of the 
local rural church the great denominations which the local 
church represents. 

Methodism 's Rural Heritage 

The rural church has been a part of the life of Meth- 
odism from its very beginning. Following the little groups 

39 



40 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

of pioneers westward across the Alleghenies and the Rocky 
Mountains, and finally to the coast, the Methodist Episcopal 
Church has pitched its tent wherever a handful of settlers 
have made a clearing and built them homes. The great 
number of these little hamlets which had to be ministered to 
make the circuit system of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
one of the important living links between these people. We 
are accustomed to speak of these settlements in the West as 
frontier communities. They are both frontier and rural. 
Into the life of such communities both East and West the 
circuit rider went preaching a kingdom of God which could 
be exemplified in a practical Christian democracy on earth. 

Many of these rural communities of other days have re- 
mained rural. The village store has been the public forum. 
The local lodge has been the fraternal tie which has united 
the people. Many of our rural communities have not yet a 
church building wherein they may worship God. Hundreds 
of such communities, having a church building or a school- 
house where preaching is conducted, do not have a resident 
pastor, and the number of rundown and ramshackle rural 
churches throughout the land is a cause for shame. While 
the farmer has been replacing his ancient farm tools with 
modern farm implements he has not always used the same 
wisdom with reference to his church. In many places he has 
been satisfied to drive to church in an automobile and wor- 
ship God in a building whose condition would disqualify it 
for either garage or stable. Religious conditions which have 
resulted from the failure of the church to keep pace with 
other forms of advance have already caused a decay in rural 
life in some sections of the country. And where the general 
life of a community is lowered the dream of democracy fades 
away. 

The evidence of neglect of the spiritual foundations 
of democracy in rural communities is appalling. When a 
community erects a $3,000 church building alongside of a 
$50,000 schoolhouse it is apparent that true perspective of 
life 's realities is lacking. The decline in church membership 



42 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

and attendance at religious worship speaks for itself, while 
the gradual abandonment of the observance of religious wor- 
ship in the home indicates unmistakably that other things 
have taken first place. The implication is that other agencies 
than the church are fitted to meet the demands of rural 
people. The school becomes the center of social and recrea- 
tional activities and farm associations assume the leadership 
in the advancement of rural civilization. 

Not All Agricultural 

The same general conditions prevail whether we think, 
of the rural section only in terms of agriculture or in the 
more accurate broader sense. To many the term " rural" is 
synonymous with "agriculture." But the village, which is 
the center of all rural life, is not restricted to farming com- 
munities. There are the coal mining sections of Pennsyl- 
vania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and the West ; the iron mines 
of the South and the North ; the copper mines of Michigan ; 
the oil fields of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas ; the coke vil- 
lages and many other types of small industrial communities 
engaged in the extraction of minerals. Over 1,000,000 
miners in America, more than half of whom are foreign born 
and who represent a population of at least 3,000,000 do not 
have the adequate religious services to help them in the great 
adventure of becoming assimilated to the practice of Chris- 
tian democracy. In the coke fields of western Pennsylvania 
alone there are over 100 mining and coke villages with a 
population of over 70,000 which have no church of any de- 
nomination, and in some religious services can be held in 
schoolhouses but four months in the year. The gospel of 
social justice has small chance under such conditions. The 
incentive to wholesome living and the support of the institu- 
tions which minister to them is lacking. The occasional out- 
bursts of irrational thinking and violent action are not to 
be wondered at. Attempts to Americanize these men and 
women by the agencies of the State must be augmented by 
a continuous application of the message of the church. 



THE RURAL OPPORTUNITY 



43 



The Southern Mountaineers 

The quiet hamlets of the Appalachian Mountains, inhab- 
ited by people so frequently referred to as Southern moun- 




nt- 



44 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

taineers, are another type of rural community. The world 
has rushed by many of these folks. They are not familiar 
with the ways of the now. Many of their homes are the 
shacks of long ago. Style does not disturb the women, learn- 
ing is not grasped at. But these people are also a part of the 
future of the nation. And their views, if belated, will hinder 
the onward march toward a day when intelligence char- 
acterizes the democracy of the land. 

Negroes In Rural Communities 

The majority of the Negroes of the United States live in 
rural communities. Much of the religious ministry which 
they receive is preaching once a month by an absentee 
pastor. Can illiteracy and immorality be overcome in this 
haphazard way! Will the handicaps of superstition, poor 
health, lack of thrift, poverty and debt be pushed aside 
through such intermittent teaching! Shall the effects of 
political and economic discrimination be left for them to 
wrestle with alone, or shall such leadership be provided as 
will gradually create a more just attitude of mind on the one 
hand and a better fitting for the solution of problems on the 
other! 

What a Rural Survey Revealed 

A concrete putting of the rural problem is found in a 
survey made of a conference district by a competent student 
of rural life. It demonstrates the fact that the larger 
wisdom of the Church as a whole must be put at the disposal 
of the local community. The existence of dilapidated old 
schoolhouses, plasterless shell or log huts is no more condu- 
cive to live economic and religious conditions than is the 
announcement of nine church bells on Sunday morning 
within a radius of a mile and a half that the community is 
all split up in its thinking. But the chief factor found is the 
indifference to the religious problems of the community as 
a whole. This is due in some cases to isolation and in others 
to the individualistic tendency of rural life. Here religion is 





GRANDFATHER'S RURAL CHURCH 
A MODERN CHURCH IN A RURAL COMMUNITY 



THE RURAL OPPORTUNITY 45 

strictly individualistic. To many of these people it is still 
in the near-primitive form of superstition. It is something 
which should act as a magic help to individual life rather 
than as a practical uplifting agency for the community. 
There is no conception of social perfection. 

A list of the varieties of religion found in this district 
indicates that individualism is more than a theory: Apos- 
tolic Holiness, Baptist-Free Will; Baptist-Missionary; Bap- 
tist-Regular; Baptist-United; Catholic (Roman) ; Campbell- 
ite ; Christian (often same as Campbellite) ; Christian 
Order; Christian Union; Church of Christ in Christian 
Union; Congregational (Welsh); Disciples; Dunkard; 
German Reformed; Lutheran; Mormon (few); Methodist 
(Episcopal) ; Methodist (Protestant) ; Methodist (Calvin- 
istic) ; Nazarene; Presbyterian; United Brethren; United 
Brethren (Radical) ; Gravel Grinders, sometimes identified 
as Campbellites ; Dumb Tonguers (who speak in an unknown 
tongue); Holy Rollers, sometimes called Christians; Rus- 
sellites ; and Friends. It is very evident that here religion is 
a personal affair. Too often such faith has the only sure 
way of salvation. This places one of a different denomina- 
tion in an embarrassing position. 

Some Contributory Causes 

overchurching and lack of support 

The particular section of country has apparently little 
to do with conditions existing in many rural communities, 
for on another district, in a section that in general is alive to 
all that is best in rural life and welfare, are found churches 
which are dying out or have been abandoned. In some in- 
stances it is purely the case of ancestral mistakes in building 
too many churches in small communities in the years past. 
Time has not yet sufficiently reduced the number. To this 
might be added the failure of those whose duty to the church 
is to support it adequately. There is on this same district a 
Methodist Episcopal church that has stea'dily declined for 



46 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

more than ten years. The building erected in 1870, with a 
seating capacity of one hundred and twenty-five, is quite 
large enough to accommodate the thirty people who meet on 
alternate Sundays to hear the Word expounded. The forty- 
five members who represent twenty families contribute one 
hundred dollars a year to pastoral support. This sum ap- 
pears to be as fixed as the laws of the Medes and Persians. 

LOST CONSTITUENCY : TENANTRY 

Then there is the small country church which for vari- 
ous reasons has lost its constituency and cannot replace this 
with another strong and virile enough to continue its life and 
work. Other rural churches have been closed or are about 
to be closed as a result of the absentee landlord system. 
Tenant farmers are but temporary dwellers, and in a dis- 
tressingly large number of instances have not actively identi- 
fied themselves with religious work. The owners of the land, 
while getting their living from the farm, have usually seen fit 
to support the church in the town or city where they reside. 
This leaves the old and unpretentious church building near 
the farm to fall into disrepair, and the rapidly disappearing 
membership to meet the bills for current expenses and min- 
isterial support as best they can. At length, for lack of 
people and lack of funds, the doors are shut and the church 
which once pointed the wayfaring man and woman heaven- 
ward becomes but an unsightly landmark or a storehouse for 
some farmer's grain. 

TOO NEAR THE TOWNS 

Still other rural churches are adjacent to a town which 
has larger and better houses of worship, and since a few 
miles more make little difference in these days of good roads 
and automobiles, families gradually drift to these centers of 
population and so desert the country church. 

The Need of Rural Vision 
The Methodist Episcopal Church has all through the 



THE RURAL OPPORTUNITY 47 

years been at work in these rural communities. That it has 
not accomplished all that it might is not a matter for utter 
condemnation. Evolutionary processes are slow. The gen- 
eral acceptance of modern farm machinery was not brought 
about in a day. And since the church in years past held its 
mission to be that of calling men and women from the things 
of this life to preparation for a life beyond, any change of 
conception is slow of acceptance. That the church in the 
rural community should be the center of the life activities of 
the community is a somewhat new idea. Rural sociologists 
have touched upon it and some church leaders have held it 
as a dream, but its actual acceptance by the people who are 
"the problem" is only of to-day, and this not in any wide- 
spread territory. Yet yearnings for it are now seen in the 
longing of farm men and women for a better type of life. 

When farm women are asked directly about their prob- 
lems they generally reply in one of three ways. The first 
group, those who have been fortunate in environment and 
opportunity for broader living, are well content with the 
sweet, joyous country life. The second group, and by far the 
largest one, are women who by labor and strictest economy 
raise their children, help their husbands in the monotonous 
task of wresting a living from the soil, who "stay by the 
stuff" night and day and grow prematurely old in a hand- 
to-hand struggle with a situation far too difficult for the indi- 
vidual to master. The third group of women are helpless 
and despairing over a lot which seldom can be changed. 
They would like to have change and enjoyment, excitement 
and life, but they do not know how to go about getting what 
they want, nor do they realize that fundamentally the solu- 
tion rests with themselves. The day of vision is far off for 
these last. 

What joy or hope does the farmer's wife receive on Sun- 
day morning as she tries to keep a pew full of children quiet 
the while the minister discourses on the delights of the New 
Jerusalem? All week she has prepared three meals a day 
for hungry men, washed the dishes, washed and ironed the 



48 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

clothes, kept the house clean and orderly, fed the pigs and 
the chickens, helped with the milking, churned, gathered the 
eggs, pumped the water, taken care of &ve heating stoves 
besides the kitchen range (with two of the stoves upstairs). 
The poetic quotation from "The Old Oaken Bucket" (fifty 
feet down a well, waiting to be drawn up with a windlass 
and rope) is all lost on her. She is tired and will be glad 
when service is over and she can talk with the other women 
about storage tanks, hot-water boilers, windmills, hot-water 
or furnace heat, home lighting plants, gasoline-run washing- 
ing machines, wringers, separators, churns, and vacuum 
cleaners. She wants to know the possibilities of sending 
Bill and Mary to college on the egg money — she does not 
want them to have the drudgery of the farm. What, besides 
the sermon, is the church going to give her that she may look 
to the church for guidance ? 

The Rubal Church Member Challenged 

Here and there there have been rural lay leaders who 
have seen the need of what the new day in rural life and wor- 
ship is bringing. But the vision of church leaders, a few 
rural pastors and an occasional rural layman, will not bring 
to pass the full promise of the hope for a rural life center- 
ing in the worship of God and the teachings of Jesus Christ 
radiating out from the church into all the community, a 
service to the last individual according to his need. Along 
with the new vision and the present helpful developments in 
rural religious life comes a sharp challenge to every rural 
church member. The intense group spirit must be broken 
up. What odds is it to the Kingdom that we are Norwegian 
or Greek? That the Jacksons, Burns, and our family all 
came to Beaverville from Layton's Point back East? Will 
the Master give us rating as landlord, tenant, or laborer? 
Are the Baptist or Congregationalists or Episcopalians or 
Methodists each to have a special consideration when they 
listen to hear it said, "Well done?" Shall the non-church- 
goer be classed outside the pale as we pray God's blessing on 



THE SURAL OPPORTUNITY 49 

our family, our land, our stock, our church? Must the new- 
comer into the community establish a social status before we 
welcome him to God's house? 

Are we as keen to have as well-qualified rural religious 
leadership as we ask in our industrial leaders ? Do we aim 
to have a church thoroughly equipped for service to the en- 
tire community ? Are we asking for a first-class ministry and 
paying for second and third class ? Do we make it necessary 
for our pastor to put in half time at carpentering, farming, 
or shoe-cobbling in order to provide for the legitimate needs 
of himself and his family ? Are we making our church plant 
available for community use? 

A Sense of Rural Worth 

A sense of rural worth must be developed. Rural lay- 
men as well as rural pastors must have a clear view of the 
fundamental aspects of the rural problem and broadly de- 
fine the relationship of the church to that problem. With 
rare exceptions the rural church has given of its best to the 
leadership of city and suburban churches and has fallen so 
in the scale of public estimation that church officials and 
ministers alike look upon the appointment out of rural work 
as a promotion. The people themselves tacitly accept this 
estimate of their own institutions by allowing their best 
pastors to be taken from them, and by moving from the 
country to the city themselves when seeking better condi- 
tions of life. Loyalty to rural life is a present-day essential. 
The sources of supply for the great enterprises of the land 
must be kept alive to the best things in life and thinking. 
Rural work must be put upon a plane of equality with all 
other work in dignity and influence. And the rural church 
must share in this self-estimate as to ability for service that 
is worth while doing well. 

Salary and Leadership 

Without doubt the question of adequate remuneration 
for the rural pastor is a large item in the problem of bring- 



50 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

ing the best sort of rural ministry to the rural community. 
A recent study shows that out of a total of 18,307 Methodist 
Episcopal churches in America 12,004 are rural, in commu- 
nities of less than 2,500 inhabitants. Of the total number of 
rural charges, 2,308 have salaries under $400; 1,499, $400 
to $600; 1,905, $600 to $800; 2,093, $800 to $1,000; 1,799, 



WHY MINISTERS LEAVE THE COUNTRY 

WHITE RURAL MINISTERS' SALARIES 
INCLUDING PARSONAGE 

.$1200 or more 
per Year 




$1,000 to $1,200; 2,027, $1,200 or over. On 373 charges no 
figures are available. These statistics include colored and 
foreign-speaking as well as English-speaking Conferences. 
A significant fact brought out is that there are more pastors 
in the $400-a-year group than in any other salary classifica- 
tion. 

This situation creates an almost insurmountable diffi- 
culty. A college- and seminary-trained young man, who has 
some educational obligations to meet after the end of his 
days of training, cannot afford to go into a rural community, 
for he must have books : he must have some opportunity for 



THE RURAL OPPORTUNITY 



51 



seeing other sections of the country besides his own village. 
His wife enjoys pretty clothes as much as do the wives of 
the trustees of the church. Frequently she is a college girl 
with all the vision of the dreams of college days, but this is 
what she actually sees : Four hundred dollars a year and a 
square, bandbox-shaped parsonage, with a parlor carpet that 



WHY MINISTERS LEAVE THE COUNTRY 

RURAL COLORED MINISTERS' SALARIES 
INCLUDING PARSONAGE 

Under$400 
per Year 



$400-$600 
per Year 




$600-$800 
per Year 



over$800 
per Year 



shrieks at you the minute you open the door ; a kitchen stove 
that gasses so that she must cook her meals with a wet towel 
tied around her mouth and nose ; cracks under the front door 
that let in snow in the winter ; a squeaky pump outside of the 
house which groans an occasional bucketful of water up 
from the cistern; ice to break in the washbowl in the morning 
of a winter's day — and the four hundred dollars paid in 
such dilatory manner that even the joy of spending this 
small amount is lost. 

Can we ever hope to have the rural minister paid an 
adequate salary? On the same district where such dismal 



52 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

conditions were found a statesmanlike district superinten- 
dent has already brought to pass a considerable increase of 
salary for his ministers. This whole living problem involves 
an equity in rural and urban standards of living, the consid- 
eration of the rural pastor as in service equally as important 
as any other in the church by bishops, district superintend- 
ents, and ministers. 

Living on the Job 

The Knight of the Saddlebag and the circuit system of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church have been praised in song 
and story, and rightly so, for the combination was the great 
power of early Methodism. It is to-day in some places. Yet 
theoretically, no man can handle a community effectively if 
he spreads himself out over other places, and a circuit is 
always a stretched-out ministry. But the circuit system to- 
day is not nearly as widespread as some might think. An 
average of the Conferences shows the circuit charges to 
have two to four preaching points. A Methodist Episcopal 
minister in central Tennessee serves twenty-one points, 
while in Oregon a retired minister between seventy-five and 
eighty years of age has a circuit of sixty-four school- 
houses. In many places the circuit system can be abolished 
to advantage. Many of the circuit points could support a 
man if they were alive to the opportunity and challenge 
which the community offers to the leadership of the church. 
The rural pastor who is solving the problem of the rural 
community, which differs from that of his city brother 
fundamentally in the matter of organization rather than in 
the people, lives on the job. He is making the church a vital- 
izing and fundamental agency for rural redirection. The 
rural religious problem has responded so finely to the steady 
leadership of a wise settled pastor that the challenge is com- 
manding the attention of the church. There are sections of 
the country, however, where the circuit system must be en- 
couraged. 

Larger results will accrue when the community rather 



THE RURAL OPPORTUNITY 53 

than the ministry is the first consideration in making ap- 
pointments at the sessions of the Annual Conferences. Of 
course this involves an esprit de corps among the leader- 
ship and ministry of the church developed on the assurance 
of a democracy of talent in the matter of appointment, pro- 
motion and similar relationships. If a man feels that the 
acceptance of a $400 rural appointment places him in the 
$400 classification forever, he very justly might object to 
taking such appointment, and could not be blamed if he spent 
some time thinking how he might get an opportunity to 
"move." The Board of Home Missions and Church Exten- 
sion must aid in supporting pastors serving charges now 
paying low salaries because of former poor service or of 
undeveloped resources, until they can be brought to self- 
support. The best ministers in Methodism should be found 
in the hardest places. 

A great deal is written and said these days about the 
necessity of a long pastorate in city churches. The need is 
no less urgent in the rural community. A minister must be 
in a place long enough to become known, to know the people, 
to become a part of the community life, to be trusted in 
matters of judgment concerning community affairs, before 
he can grow into a place of leadership which will be recog- 
nized and followed. There are some places where men have 
stayed a lifetime in a rural parish. They have thus become a 
dominating influence in the lives of most of the people who 
have been a part of the community during the years. 

Is the Rural Field Missionary? 

The development of the missionary spirit among the 
ministry in rural work is essential, and this in order that 
they will work for those things which they recognize as lack- 
ing in rural life which they believe other communities enjoy. 
This raises the question as to whether rural work is really 
missionary work in so far as it has the task of bringing the 
whole of life to the rural community. 

It is the task of the Board of Home Missions and Church 



54 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

• 
Extension of the Methodist Episcopal Church to aid rural 
communities in the efficient development of the religious 
life they need to conserve the best elements of a safe civiliza- 
tion. It must help to stimulate that love for the best things 
which unrestrained economic life is apt to lose. It must pre- 
serve that recognition of man 's dependence upon a divinity 
which is so essential an element in any civilization and with- 
out which civilization is apt to be hollow, false, and without 
an abiding hope, to protect it from the deterioration which 
has marked pagan civilizations throughout all history. 

One cause for failure on the part of the rural church in 
the past has been its lack of emphasis upon life as a whole. 
It failed to recognize that a wholesome religious life will not 
be found in*an inferior economic and social environment. 
All must be developed together. The church should be 
recognized as the great community leader in civilization. 

The business of the church so far as rural life is con- 
cerned is to aid in bringing rural folk back again to that 
standard of dignity and importance they once held, and to 
bring to the uttermost corners of the open country those con- 
ditions which make possible the purpose of the Master when 
he said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they 
might have it more abundantly. ' ' The economic problems of 
the farmer have been largely solved. But the enrichment of 
rural life with wholesome forms of expression still awaits 
the leadership of the church. And, unless the church per- 
forms its duty, increased wealth may come to mean de- 
terioration of the American people instead of becoming a 
blessing. 

Some Necessary Adjustments 

Better organization to meet changed conditions result- 
ing from shifts in population must be instituted. Over- 
churching and interdenominational competition must be 
overcome. Lay leadership must be again encouraged. In 
meeting the interdenominational situation it is found that 
the union church is not favored by any denomination. It is 



THE RURAL OPPORTUNITY 55 

self -centered and has no missionary viewpoint. Trading off 
— that is a Baptist and a Methodist Episcopal church ex- 
changing the field in two different places, the Baptist to give 
up the work entirely to the Methodist Episcopal congrega- 
tion at A and the Methodist Episcopal church to give up the 
work entirely to the Baptist congregation at B, has proved 
successful. Federation is desirable where trading off or 
merging into one denomination is not possible. The weak- 
ness in this form of meeting the problem from the Methodist 
Episcopal point of view lies in the conflict between the 
principle of connectional organization represented by Meth- 
odism and the congregational polity resulting from federa- 
tion. 

The affiliated membership plan now in use on the Rock 
Island District is proving to be very successful. It appears 
to be specially suited to all communities in which Methodism 
has the predominant responsibility but which contain mem- 
bers of other churches who do not care to give up their mem- 
bership in their own denominations. It is a distinct contri- 
bution to the solution of the problem of interdenominational 
competition because it does not destroy the connectional or- 
ganization. 

Training a Rural Ministry 

When all is said, the success of a rural pastorate de- 
pends upon the rural pastor. He must be rurally trained for 
his task. The sending of young ministers to rural commu- 
nities for their first parishes as a sort of training for city 
work has gone on almost indefinitely. The young preacher 
has gained some experience, the church in the country has 
learned the virtue of patience, but it is doubtful if successive 
pastors of this sort have left anything very definite in the 
life of the rural community. To-day the need for a specially 
trained rural minister is seen. To meet this demand an ade- 
quate system of recruiting and training for the rural min- 
istry is necessary. This is being met in part by the chairs of 
rural sociology in our theological seminaries and the rural 




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THE RURAL OPPORTUNITY 57 

institutes and conferences held by the Department of Rural 
Work of the Board of Home Missions and Church Extension 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

But the need is greater than the supply. Hundreds of 
leaders must be trained for the complex task of present lead- 
ership. " Supplies' ' must be displaced by trained men in 
full standing in Annual Conference relationships. The 
vision of the great task to be performed by the minister in 
the rural community must be given to those who are still 
thinking in terms of church life of a generation ago and a 
challenge must be given to the youth of our colleges to enlist 
themselves in the service of rural people. The service ren- 
dered by the rural pastor is as necessary to American civil- 
ization as that which is done in any other part of our social 
organization. With the proper recognition of the oppor- 
tunity for both Kingdom and community service in the rural 
pastorate, he will enter the rural community with that same 
enthusiasm that has characterized thousands of volunteers 
for foreign service. The challenge is a commanding one. 
The church is beginning to create the motive, the spirit, and 
the power of leadership in the rural church. It is not only 
preaching, but is also equipping its Sunday school for a 
modern religious education. It is also cooperating sym- 
pathetically with every movement for scientific home mak- 
ing, for lightening the work in the farmhouse, for the bring- 
ing of music and literature, the right kind of recreation and 
social life, within the reach of every member of the com- 
munity in terms of his or her own special needs. 

A Rural Church Program 

It is the rural church with a program that wins. In 
response to repeated calls for a program for rural churches, 
the Department of Rural Work of the Board of Home Mis- 
sions and Church Extension, in cooperation with bishops, 
district superintendents, and pastors, has prepared the fol- 
lowing outline. 



58 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

1. Survey of at least one point on charge. Point to be selected 
according to its availability for a community program. When the 
district is divided into parishes the entire parish should be surveyed. 

2. When the survey is completed, locate the home of each mem- 
ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and of all who prefer the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, and all who have no church preference, 
on the map that will be furnished you, by dot or small circle. These 
dots or small circles should be numbered to correspond with the cards 
containing the names of the occupants of the homes, and such other 
data as may be gathered in making the survey. 

3. Work for a banner Sunday school in every church the year 
round. Introduce the Partnership Plan gotten out by the Board of 
Sunday Schools. It will greatly increase the offerings of your Sun- 
day schools to the Board of Home Missions and Church Extension, the 
Board of Foreign Missions, and the Board of Sunday Schools. The 
money secured in this way will apply on your regular benevolent 
apportionments. 

4. Work for the raising in full of all apportionments in benevo- 
lences. 

5. Introduce the disciplinary financial drive for each church. 

6. Organize a Family Altar League. If you are not familiar with 
this organization, inquire of the district superintendent. We must 
make an effort to cultivate family religion. 

7. A home improvement campaign some time during the year, 
probably during the spring. 

8. A campaign for the improvement of every church property, 
as follows: 

(a) Clean up every churchyard and burying ground. 

(b) See that every church building is painted. 

(c) See that windows, stoves, furnaces, seats, papering, every- 
thing needed to make the building comfortable and attractive, is in 
good condition. 

(d) Plant trees where they are lacking. Landscape the church- 
yard. Set out shrubbery. Plant flowers in the spring. Keep the 
lawn properly mowed. 

(e) If your churches are in villages or communities where the 
effort would be justified, lay out tennis courts, croquet grounds, basket- 
ball grounds, etc. 

(f) Toilets in the churches or in the churchyards so located and 
beautified as not to be offensive. 

(g) Horse or automobile sheds where necessary. 
(h) Coal or Woodsheds at every church. 

(i) Parsonages comfortable and habitable, with lawns well kept 
and landscaped. 



THE RURAL OPPORTUNITY 59 

0") Keep cemeteries in good condition. Organize a cemetery 
association, if necessary. 

(k) Individual communion cups. Communion table and linen. 
(I) Methodist Hymnals in every church, 
(m) See that property is properly insured. 

9. Make your churches the center of the social life of the com- 
munity. Plan social functions for your young people. Organize boys' 
clubs. Keep something doing in your churches all the time. Make 
much of the great religious festivals, such as Christmas, Easter, etc. 
Cooperate with other agencies in community organization. 

10. A rural study class in each church for training leaders for 
conventional church work and for leaders of community service. 
Special evening courses during the winter have been found profitable. 

11. Develop all phases of evangelistic effort recommended by the 
Department of Evangelism of the Board of Home Missions and Church 
Extension. Write for literature. 

12. Take an active interest in Farmers' Institutes and other 
rural organizations. Attend public sales, that you may meet strangers 
and become better acquainted with the men of your community. Take 
a farm journal. 

13. If no adequate library exists, introduce the circulating library 
that can be secured free of cost from the State university, or State 
library in most States. 

14. It may be profitable to arrange a course of lectures on "Good 
Housekeeping," "Farming," etc. 

15. It would be well to invest in a stereopticon. Slides can be se- 
cured at a nominal cost. Many can be secured entirely free of cost. 
You can make these stereopticon lectures highly beneficial. Write to 
the Department of Rural Work, Board of Home Missions and Church 
Extension, 1701 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for informa- 
tion as to sources of illustrative material. 

16. During the summer vacation organize a Religious Day 
School. Such a school can be conducted profitably for a period of from 
two to five weeks. The Bible should be the chief study in the Religious 
Day School. 

17. Divide your entire parish into sections. Have a superin- 
tendent of each section, whose duty it shall be to report to you the 
names of the new people who may move into the community, the 
names of the sick, and all other matters of importance with which 
you should be familiar. 

18. Organize a pastor's visiting committee of from six to ten 
women in each church community, to visit at least one afternoon each 
week, under your direction. Special effort should be made where a 
tenant or other transient population should be reached. In this way 



60 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

the poor, the sick, the strangers, and the shut-ins will be given proper 
attention. 

19. Organize a band of personal workers in every church, whose 
duty it shall be to seek out those who have not affiliated with the 
church, and to give you any valuable information that you may need 
concerning the spiritual state of those with whom they may come in 
contact. 

20. Select a few silent workers in each church, who shall be- 
friend the poor, the neglected, the sinful, and those recently saved, 
with a view of helping them up in the community. These workers 
should be selected without the knowledge of anyone but the pastor, and 
should work under his direction. Just a little personal attention will 
often start a man on the highway of salvation. 

21. Use all righteous means to lift your community and your 
entire parish up to the highest state of moral, industrial, social, and 
spiritual efficiency. 

22. Above all, determine to make your sermons on the Sab- 
bath scriptural, spiritual, and inspirational. No secular theme should 
be allowed to sidetrack a gospel message on the Lord's Day. 

23. For the sake of greater effectiveness in community action, let 
all ministers on the district work together at some time, previously 
agreed upon, under the direction of the district superintendent in ac- 
cordance with plans formed by an interdenominational comity com- 
mittee, for the following: 

(a) A county farm bureau in each county. 

(b) A county welfare bureau in each county. 

(c) An effective community organization in every community. 

(d) A county library system in every county. 

(e) Boys' and girls' club work of such kind as are adapted to 
local conditions. 

(f) Community health campaigns. 

(g) Home economics campaigns. 

(h) Care of the unfortunate classes in county homes, lockups, 
jails, insane asylums. 

That a program is needed does not need to be argued. 
The first essential, however, is the making of a survey. This 
may be done very simply. The Department of Rural Work 
of the Board of Home Missions and Church Extension of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church has issued a " Rural Home 
Survey" which can be used to secure the data absolutely 
necessary for beginning the work. 



THE RURAL OPPORTUNITY 61 

On a number of Conference districts promising rural 
charges have been selected by the Department of Rural 
Work with the aim to assist them in reaching the highest pos- 
sible efficiency. Here trained rural ministers are assisted 
both financially and with guidance by the Board. It is hoped 
through this help in special places to develop a large number 
of rural churches to recognized leadership in the community. 
As rapidly as such charges attain desired standards, the help 
will be transferred to other charges. 

Rural Ministers' Association 

In some sections of the country rural missionary so- 
cieties and rural Ministers' Associations are helping to co- 
ordinate and assist financially the church activities of rural 
churches. In the Rock River Conference some twenty 
preaching points receive help on the pastor's salary each 
year, and interest is stimulated in the best things of rural 
life. The North-East Ohio Conference Rural Ministers' 
Association serves as a clearing house for the best plans and 
methods in rural church work. An exhibit of rural church 
work is set up at the session of the Annual Conference and 
an hour of the regular business session is given over to 
expert discussion of rural work. The district secretaries of 
the Association seek to discover promising rural pastors in 
their district and encourage them to make the rural pastor- 
ate their lifework. As a result many rural pastors are catch- 
ing a new vision of the opportunities in the rural parish and 
are dedicating their lives to this field. 

A Department of Rural Work 

The day of the rural church is dawning. The rural 
sources of Christian democracy are receiving more and 
better attention. Awakening to its share of the obligation, 
the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
in May, 1916, provided for a Department of Rural Work. 
It provides for tasks of Christian statesmanship. Looking 
out over the country, it surveys the field in order to deter- 



62 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

mine the centers where permanent church enterprises might 
be established which would serve the entire community. It 
has the appropriating of funds to strategic centers for 
demonstration purposes. Recommendations for denomina- 
tional exchanges and cooperative or federated plans come 
from its study. The promotion of the study of rural soci- 
ology and the spreading of the vision of rural life service is 
in its hands. It stimulates cooperation with the allies of the 
church in the improving of economic, social, educational, 
and religious life of people in rural sections. 

To help to keep the church alive to the best thought and 
expression of the day concerning rural life is no small task. 
But Methodism has a heritage that is rural. Her strength is 
recruited to-day in her rural churches. Her ministry and 
the leadership of the nation come from the country. What 
challenges for the best in religious leadership sound from 
these facts. If the leaders of cities are to be trained in 
villages, how much more urgent is the task of inculcating in 
rural youth that democracy whose principles are diffused 
with the Sermon on the Mount ! Unless the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church responds in a large way at this point her 
opportunity for service both in city and country is lost. 
With a rousing response the thought and life of the nation 
may be lifted for years to come. 

Questions foe Discussion 

1. What challenge to Christian democracy does the 
rural population of America throw out ? 

2. What part has Methodism had in ministering to 
rural communities ? 

3. What is meant by ' ' rural ' ' ? Illustrate. 

4. Describe the results of the Rural Survey Study? 
What do you know personally of rural conditions? 

5. State the Rural Home Mission Problem and discuss 
some contributing causes. 

6. How may one get rural vision? What hope has the 
farmer 's wife ? 



THE RURAL OPPORTUNITY 63 

7. Show how failure to retain a sense of rural worth 
has handicapped rural church work. 

8. To what extent are salary and leadership related! 
How well are rural Methodist Episcopal ministers paid? 

9. Compare the circuit system with the resident pastor- 
ate. 

10. What new demands make an absentee pastor inade- 
quate ? 

11. Where shall we get a trained rural ministry? 
What inducements must we offer ? 

12. What would you put into a rural church program? 

13. How may rural ministers' associations help de- 
velop rural consciousness ? 

14. Describe the aims of the Department of Rural 
Work of the Board of Home Missions and Church Extension 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 



The great leveling forces of democracy, recruited from many- 
sources, have all halted before the racial wall. However slight the 
ethnic barrier, even Christianity has struck its colors before it, and 
turned back in spite of an honest desire for universal conquest. No- 
where is this defeat more apparent than in the United States, where 
a tint is equivalent to a taint, a crooked nose to a crooked character, 
and where a peculiar slant of the eyes is taken as unmistakable evi- 
dence that the race so marked cannot see straight. Yet the wall has 
been broken here and there by the love of God, which asks nothing and 
gives everything; by that other love which is also of God, which asks 
everything, and gives everything; by the passion for fair play which 
is almost a national characteristic and by those vital, but uncatalogued 
forces which are called environment. — Edward A. Steiner, in The 
Broken Wall. 

As our fathers and mothers, when the call came to save the country 
in the days of '61, placed their all upon the nation's altar, not even 
holding their lives dear, so may we, when the call is given, "America 
for Christ," consecrate the best we have to bring that day to pass. — 
Charles M. Boswell. 

The undertaking of material civilization involves large principles. 
They are titanic in scope. But the forces at play in the American 
missionary enterprise are vaster — are nothing less than cosmic. — Lemuel 
C. Barnes, in Elemental Forces in Home Missions. 

The present world conditions make it more necessary than ever that 
every man and woman coming to our shores be given a practical demon- 
stration of the Christianity which we preach to them through our for- 
eign missionaries. — Our Italian Allies. 

We are being forged into a new unity amidst the fires that now 
blaze throughout the world. In their ardent heat we shall, in God's 
providence, let us hope, be purged of faction and division, purified of 
the errant humors of party and private interest, and shall stand forth 
in the days to come with a new dignity of national pride and spirit. 
Let each man see to it that the dedication is in his own heart, the 
high purpose of the nation in his own mind, ruler of his own will and 
desire. — President Woodrow Wilson, in Second Inaugural Address. 



CHAPTER III 
OUR FUTURE CITIZENS 

No Longer ' ' Foreigners ' ' 

The term "foreigner" is obsolete in America. For 
some time there has been a substitution of the term "non- 
English speaking. ' ' And now, with war mingling the blood 
of several nations in the same red stream, the term "allies" 
has become the fitting appellation for those sons of other 
lands who love the truth and fight for the right. The immi- 
grant is now thought of as our future citizen. As such he 
must be given the opportunity afforded our own sons. Our 
dream of Christian democracy must be his. "Will he catch 
it ? The patient teaching of its ideals will give him the back- 
ground for making it his own. The practical application of 
its principles in dealing with him will help him to possess it. 
His failure or success depends on us. 

Little thought is given to immigration in these days 
when every available ship is employed to transport men, 
equipment, and food across the seas. Our minds are cen- 
tered on the main issue of our national life. All else is given 
second place when a war must be won for democracy. But 
we must not lose sight of the fact that in the United States 
there are multitudes of people of foreign birth who do not 
know our democracy. A part of the immigration which 
came before the beginning of the world war, they have not 
yet been taught its ways. They crowd the sidewalks in the 
bustling cities. They are found in the quiet lanes of the 
countryside. In mines, on the railroad, in factories, building 
subways and bridges, on the ranch, in the lumber camp — 
there is scarcely a place where men work that they are not 
found. And their families have settled down in whatever 

67 



68 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

dwellings they could find, just so as to be near to their men. 

Giving the content of Christian brotherhood to the term 
"allies" is a task not yet performed. It is in process, but 
much must yet be done. It is no new challenge to the Church 
of Jesus Christ. Its concern has been men and women, no 
matter where they came from or what their condition. That 
the church has not always lived up to the ideal of its aim is 
true. Distinctions have been made. The humanness of the 
average church member has blinded the eyes of many to the 
fact that the world has been coming to the United States for 
teaching. Social distinctions have made it hard for some to 
extend the hand of Christian fellowship to those whose 
family tree did not root in the same ancestral garden as their 
own. It has been a failure of adaptability rather than of 
purpose. A lack of knowledge of the English language has 
been put down as general ignorance. Unfamiliarity with 
the strange ways and customs of newcomers has made us 
irritable at the slowness with which they have adopted our 
customs and ways. Forgetting that they are individuals like 
ourselves, we have sought in a patronizing way to make them 
see how much better we are than they. Possessing fine 
churches of our own, we have endeavored to "missionize" 
them in old, unused grocery stores and shacks on side streets. 
The folly of this sort of exhibition of brotherly love is now 
seen. The heart of the membership of the church is warmed 
by the common sacrifices made by its sons and the sons of 
the immigrant alike. They now seek to have such fellow- 
ship with the folks once derisively called "foreigners" as 
will demonstrate the unity of Christian love. And the re- 
sponse will be equal to the effort. 

Not all of the work done by the church for the immi- 
grant has been either selfish or in vain. While local 
churches have found it difficult to respond to the Master's 
call to minister to all men, many have been practicing the 
vision of a kingdom of Grod on earth of all people with great 
success. It is this work already accomplished that gives 
hope for the future. It is in this success that the challenge to 




MOHAMMEDAN CHILDREN AT JOHNSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA 
CHILDREN OF THE NATIONS AT ELLIS ISLAND 



OUR FUTURE CITIZENS 69 

unseeing churches lies. With the whole Christian Church 
awake, the processes of the government to Americanize our 
future citizens will be augmented in a most remarkable way 
by the Christianizing influence of the church. Then will 
Christian democracy spread rapidly. Then will the nations 
of the earth see that our fine utterance of a democracy 
worth dying to make the world safe for is based upon actual 
practice in the United States. On that great day the doors 
of every nation the world around will swing wide open to 
receive the purposes of God through Jesus Christ his Son. 

Methodism Has Bid Them Welcome 

The Methodist Episcopal Church has stood well to the 
front among the churches which have definitely ministered to 
the immigrant through the years. Mindful of the fact that 
all of us, or onr forefathers, came to this country as immi- 
grants, its ministers have sought to share in the process of 
assimilating the newcomers to our manner of thought and 
ways of living. Nor was the labor in vain. For to-day 
throughout the length and breadth of the land are Methodist 
Episcopal churches whose members came in recent years 
from lands across the seas. In loyalty to the kingdom of 
God they equal our native born. In devotion to the land that 
adopted them they are not excelled. Their songs, their lives, 
their sacrifices give evidence of their new life-purposes. 

The type of people who have sought the United States 
as a future home has varied through the years. The 
" earlier' ' immigration, from 1820 to 1873, was, for the most 
part, made up of English, Scotch, Celts, French, German, 
and Scandinavians. The assimilation of these people was 
scarcely perceptible. American ideals soon found root in 
their minds. They took to American ways readily. The 
church was able to meet their spiritual needs in an unusually 
successful way. A representative of the church met the 
immigrant and his family at Ellis Island. Protection was 
given against exploitation. Temporal needs were cared for 



70 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

until self-support was possible. Churches were built for 
these people. Ministers who could speak their native tongue 
were provided. The democratic spirit of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church fitted it peculiarly for its share of this 
task. It was able to develop an environment and create con- 
ditions favorable for the betterment of every nationality that 
arrived. In these days of the " earlier' ' immigration the 
point of contact between the church and the stranger was 
easy to find. Home life in the case of each nation was much 
alike. The newcomer was of high intelligence, thrifty, pro- 
gressive, and adaptable. There existed little or no racial or 
political prejudice. 

But a change came about 1873. Since then there have 
not been so many coming from the peoples just mentioned. 
The change was most marked in racial type. Southern 
Europe began to contribute largely to our new population. 
Spanish, Portuguese, and Basques also began to come. The 
immigrant suddenly become a complex problem for govern- 
ment authorities. A new and tremendous challenge con- 
fronted the Christian Church. It still confronts it. For 
while with the beginning of the war immigration from these 
sources practically ceased, there are still with us the people 
who came previous to that time. 

Some Difficulties in Assimilation 

The church finds a difficulty in coping with its responsi- 
bility in the illiteracy of the new immigration. Where there 
is illiteracy on the part of even one party, prejudice and 
mutual misunderstanding are likely to result. There is less 
of common ground in any relation, and greater divergence 
of thought. Until the church understands the character and 
customs of the heterogeneous peoples coming to our shores 
to engage in unskilled labor, it cannot be a channel of en- 
lightenment to them. Tenement life presents another diffi- 
culty. Because of necessity, Italians, Greeks, and others of 
the " later" immigration crowd into the unsanitary tene- 
ments of our great cities. Here in colonies of their own peo- 



OUR FUTURE CITIZENS 71 

pie it is easy for them to preserve the old ideals and tradi- 
tions. The scattering of the " earlier' ' immigration, and its 
greater similarity to those already here, eliminated this 
barrier to approach and assimilation. 

Diversity of language presents another barrier to evan- 
gelical approach. The religious conceptions of the people 
are in terms used by the Roman Catholic Church. It is diffi- 
cult to put evangelical content into the religious phraseology 
with which they are familiar. Thousands of them are 
estranged from the church of their homeland, but are unable 
to see the distinction between the religious oppression of the 
old days and the offer of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the 
free, untrammeled terms of the evangelical church. While 
speaking different languages, these groups of people have 
the same background for their religious thinking. To find a 
point of contact here is a most difficult task. Their own 
ecclesiastical authorities make no effort to help them, and 
the ideals of citizenship come to them very slowly. 

The Bukeau of Foreign Work 

The Bureau of Foreign Work of the Board of Home 
Missions and Church Extension is seeking to find these 
points of contact for the Methodist Episcopal Church. It is 
making an intensive study of non-English speaking groups 
according to racial and language divisions. In this study 
account is taken of the peculiar characteristics of the people, 
the populations to be ministered to, church locations, types 
of work needed, buildings and equipment required, and the 
sort of leadership which alone can lead these people into the 
truth. 

A Local Italian Parish Program 

As a result of the studies already made among the 
Italian people a program of work and a program of train- 
ing for leadership have been adopted. It has been found 
that in the local Italian church the most effective min- 
istry is that which approaches the family as a whole. This 




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OUR FUTURE CITIZENS 73 

helps every individual in the family to get the viewpoint 
of evangelical Christianity at the same time and prevents 
the church from sharing in the separation of immigrant 
parents and their children as a result of the forward look 
which the latter are acquiring through the Americanization 
processes of the public school. The older generation must 
be approached in Italian, for English will never be to them 
a familiar vehicle for either the reception or expression 
of their religious or political ideas. But English is the 
"mother tongue' ' of the children and the young people. 
They are Americans and resent the implication that Italian 
is the language for them. With these general principles in 
mind the following more detailed plan is proposed : 

1. Approach to the Family as a Whole. 

(a) Home visitor, a woman speaking Italian with the American 
training and American spirit. Such a one, bilingual, could work 
with little children in English, and conduct older classes possibly 
in Italian. The problem is one of young women as well as 
mothers. The future objective to be young Italian women thor- 
oughly trained. (b) Family gatherings for everybody in the 
church parlors or church house. Music, games, pictures, etc. 
Recognize the family unit, (c) Meetings in the home. The com- 
ing of the stranger draws all the neighbors in so that a program 
may be used. Special attention to home meetings for girls. 

2. Approach in Italian for Adult Italian Groups. 

(a) Religious services of worship in Italian, (b) Bilingual staff 
members, a lawyer, physician, employment agent, and a printer, 
whose services may be used for help among the Italians in the 
community, (c) Mothers' club in Italian, (d) Men's clubs for 
learning English and citizenship (civic questions, citizen papers, 
etc.) (e) Use of Italian literature, (f) Religious instruction in 
Italian, (g) Illustrated lectures, (h) Italian patriotism as point 
of contact (Italian days, the 20th of September, etc.). (i) Make 
use of musical interest. 

3. Approach in English to Children and Young People. 

(<x) Attendance at English church services, (b) Religious instruc- 
tion (Sunday School), (c) Related week-day club activities, em- 
phasis on expressional work, such as : Recreational club, gymnasium 
club, choral societies, dramatic clubs, Boy Scouts, Knights of King 
Arthur, Campfire Girls, Girl Scouts, sewing, painting, drawing, 
and sculpturing, (d) Illustrated lectures and moving pictures, (e) 



74 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

Daily vacation Bible school, (f) Flower mission, (g) Fresh air 
work, (h) Camps. 

Italian Leadership 

The Board of Hoine Missions and Church Extension, in 
cooperation with the Board of Education of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, is already at the task of securing an 
adequately trained ministry for Italian parishes. The 
American minister who is to bring the message of Christian 
democracy to the Italian must have a college and theological 
seminary training. The latter must be supplemented with 
clinic work in an Italian parish, and a year in Italy. Italian 
ministers who are to be religious leaders among their own 
people in this country must have a college and theological 
seminary training. During their seminary training they 
must also be in attendance at some center in connection with 
an Italian church where they may receive lectures in Italian 
and Italian culture, and be guided in practical work in dif- 
ferent Italian parishes. Candidates for this form ©f min- 
istry in Italian and other tongues are assisted in their prep- 
aration by scholarships provided by the Bureau of Foreign 
Work. There is a Slavic department for such training at 
Baldwin- Wallace College, Berea, Ohio. 

With Other Tongues 

The general principles worked out for work among 
Italians must be foundation for all work among non-English- 
speaking peoples. Of course there will have to be modifica- 
tions according to varying needs. But the entire process 
must be a part of bringing the people from every land into 
actual fellowship with English-speaking congregations. In 
all of the other activities of life America makes no racial 
distinction. It cannot longer make such distinction in the 
one phase of life above all others which should exemplify 
democracy. The barriers are breaking down very rapidly 
on account of the war. The Church of Jesus Christ must 
now summons Italian, Croatian, Bohemian, Syrian, Finnish, 



OUR FUTURE CITIZENS 



75 



Slav, and all others to a unity of worship and service. Jesus 
Christ made this common footing possible. The church of 
to-day must see that the theory works out in actual practice. 
Because of language difficulties there will be non-Eng- 
lish-speaking churches for some time. The old folks must be 
ministered to. But as rapidly as English is acquired they 




THE IMMIGRANT ZONE 

The heavy line indicates the Immigrant Zone in the United States. Eighty- 
two per cent of our non-English-speaking population are within this area. 
So also are most of our large cities, as indicated by dots. 



must be assimilated with the regular membership of the 
church and cease to be a "missionary problem." And they 
will be so assimilated if the church will give them the oppor- 
tunity. Many a church is rediscovering itself by adopting 
this method. Indiana Harbor, Illinois, has a population of 
eighty-three per cent "foreign." The local church, like 
many others, was divided between those who considered the 
situation hopeless and those who looked upon "foreigners" 
as undesirables. By degrees this church has discovered that 
the Chinese and the Croatian are as human as the original 
members. A Serbian seems to have all the desires and ambi- 



76 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

tions of the man in search of the best in American life. An 
Arabian may now be baptized at their altar. The joy of 
various tongues unites in song of praise to God in their 
church. Something happened. A pastor came who believed 
the statement to be true that all men may know God through 
Jesus Christ, The people awoke, and now a ministry un- 
dreamed of is being performed by that church. The same 
thing will be duplicated in countless other communities just 
as soon as folks discover that they have not a proprietorship 
upon the church which made them what they are. 

Methodism 's Appeal to the Immigkant 

It is an interesting coincidence that the Centenary of 
Methodist Missions comes at the same time as the one hun- 
dredth anniversary of immigration in the United States. It 
also is of interest to note that all through these years the 
Methodist Episcopal Church has been ministering to each 
group of newcomers in their native tongue. The result in 
organization is seen in the ten German Annual Confer- 
ences, the six Swedish Conferences, and the two Nor- 
wegian-Danish Conferences, all in the United States. While 
for the most part the immigrant has been ministered to as a 
part of English congregations, there has been a tremendous 
value in the form of administration to which reference has 
just been made. The time has come, however, when the 
churches represented by these non-English-speaking Con- 
ferences will ask that their Americanism be recognized. 
They will request a place in the English-speaking Confer- 
ences. Arid the Methodist Episcopal Church, which adapts 
itself to the needs of each changing generation, will grant 
the request. During the past years this ministry in a foreign 
tongue has been a most effective channel for the dissemina- 
tion of the ideals of Christian democracy. Now, with the 
government insisting that all men and women, as well as the 
children, shall be able to read and write the English lan- 
guage, this necessity is done away with. Probably the 



OUR FUTURE CITIZENS 77 

Chinese and Japanese Mission Conferences will serve a 
real purpose for a time yet. But the day is not far distant 
when the songs of faith in the Methodist Episcopal Church 
in the United States will all be sung in American English. 

The Plaza Community Center for Latin-Americans 

The Plaza Community Center of Los Angeles, Cali- 
fornia, is the response of the Methodist Episcopal Church to 
the material and spiritual needs of the 60,000 Latin-Amer- 
icans in that great city of 540,000 people. The people to 
whom this institutional church will minister are for the most 
part refugees from Mexico. Several things account for 
their coming. The industrial advantage to be found in this 
country stands foremost. The political and revolutionary 
disturbances so common in Mexico have sent many hurrying 
into southern California. Some have come with the hope of 
escaping the oppression of the Roman Catholic Church. 
Others desire to give the better educational advantages of 
the United States to their children. A few have left Mexico 
for the sake of seeing the country once owned by their 
fathers. Slipping across the border they have settled in 
large numbers in a crowded and unwholesome section of the 
city. Here all the forces of evil are at work for their de- 
struction. Housing conditions are deplorable. The tene- 
ment houses are unspeakable, but the house courts are worse. 
The houses average from one to three rooms, eight by ten 
feet to ten by twelve in size. There is usually one outside 
window and a door at each end of the house. In these homes 
the families average five. In some eight people live in two 
or three rooms, ten in three rooms, and twenty-five in five 
small rooms. Twenty-eight per cent of the Mexican people 
in this section of the city have no water facilities in the 
house. A hydrant in the yard supplies the needs of from six 
to eight families. Bathing under these conditions is practi- 
cally impossible. 

No ordinary church could meet the needs of such a com- 



78 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

munity. The Plaza Community Center is not an ordinary 
church. It is being built on the experience of the very best 
efforts to meet the real needs of people the country over. 
Morgan Memorial Church, Boston, has furnished a part 
of the idea. The Hampton Institute, Hampton, Virginia, 
has also made contribution. So have many other institu- 
tional churches of all denominations. The purpose of the 
Plaza Community Center is to minister to the entire life of 
the people whom it serves. To this end the church proper 
is being built alongside of and as a part of the institutional 
section of the structure. This meets the prejudice of Latin- 
Americans against social activities in the house of God. 

The main part of the building is six stories high, with a 
basement and a roof garden. In the basement there will be a 
printing shop, swimming pool, and baths. The first floor will 
be given up to the general office, an employment bureau, a 
general store, cafeteria, and children's bank. Going up an- 
other flight of stairs, one may find a fine large auditorium for 
entertainments and social activities, a reading room, dining 
room, kitchen and the superintendent's office. The free dis- 
pensary and temporary hospital will occupy the third floor. 
Above this will be the temporary home for the homeless, 
apartments for workers in the Plaza Community Center, 
class rooms for housekeeping and homemaking, a kinder- 
garten and a day nursery. The shoe and furniture repair 
shops, the carpenter and tinker shop, and the rug weaving 
factory will be on the fifth floor. Here also will be the class 
rooms for English, Spanish, penmanship, music, cooking, 
sewing, millinery, and tailoring. The sixth floor will house 
the gymnasium, physical culture classes, and hand laundry. 

What an equipment for practical service ! What a re- 
sponse to the demand for giving Christian democracy in its 
most practical form to these sad, hopeless strangers from 
over the border! The work which this Community Center 
will be able to do is incalculable. But Methodism will not 
fulfill her trust to the Latin-Americans in the United States 
until she makes possible the duplication of this sort of enter- 



OUR FUTURE CITIZENS 79 

prise in numerous communities throughout the entire great 
Southwest. 

Jefferson Park — In New York's Little Italy 

In the midst of crowded Little Italy, New York city, 
stands the Jefferson Park Methodist Episcopal Church. 
Under the able direction of an Italian pastor, a ministry is 
here performed whose influence is far-reaching. With one 
block of tenement houses occupied by twenty-five hundred 
Italians and every other tenement proportionately filled, 
there is no lack of opportunity for teaching Christian 
democracy to these blood brothers of one of our allies. And 
it is being taught through the points of contact peculiar to 
these people. Not content with preaching the gospel at the 
regular Sunday services, the pastor takes his message out on 
the street corners. He visits the industrial plants in the 
community. He goes where the children congregate at their 
play. Through tenement house after tenement house he 
seeks for those who need his ministry. Not infrequently he 
is seen coming down a fire escape to visit some family be- 
tween the roof and the sidewalk. Within a stone's throw of 
a stable where scores of murders have been committed he is 
furnishing the neutralizing influence against crime in the 
community. 

The value of this work is recognized by the police cap- 
tain of this precinct. He says: "I heartily commend the 
strong efforts you are making and hope that other churches 
will take up the good work started by you in bringing the 
youngsters under such wholesome influences, thereby fitting 
them to grow up and become good American citizens." 
With a beautiful five story brick building for a plant, the 
opportunities of this Italian Methodist Episcopal Church are 
without end. A large Sunday school and flourishing Ep- 
worth League grip the young people and children. Then 
there are the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, a glee club, school 
of music, an orchestra, cooking class, a night school for 
English-Italian and Italian-English, mothers' meetings, a 



80 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

choral class, a bugle-drum corps, a typesetting and printing 
class, and an athletic club. 

A fine patriotic spirit characterizes the people of this 
church. Red Cross activities furnish the women with the 
task of making garments for their men at the front. The 
service flag reminds them constantly that the land of their 
adoption is making them a part of its very life through the 
sacrifice of the lifeblood of their sons. The little children re- 
joice in the fact that their brother or father is in khaki or 
blue. * i The Star-Spangled Banner ' ' is sung with all the joy 
and enthusiasm that comes with the singing of "Inno di 
Garibaldi." Democracy is getting a fine chance here, and it 
is a Christian democracy that will endure. 

Old Broadway — A Ministry to Bohemians 

Old Broadway Methodist Episcopal Church, Cleveland, 
Ohio, is located in a community of approximately eighty 
thousand people, eighty-five per cent of whom are either 
foreign born or of foreign-born parentage. For years this 
church has ministered to the immigrant through its Sunday* 
school and church services. Every one of the allies is repre- 
sented in its membership and seventeen languages are 
spoken by the pupils in the Sunday school. The ministry of 
this most useful church is carried on in the English language, 
except among the adults. For these there are a preaching 
service, Bible class and prayer-meeting in Bohemian. The 
success of the work done is seen in the way which those 
taught in childhood in the Sunday school have remained to 
become the present official leaders of the church. 

In the now old ramshackle frame building thousands 
have received their first and best interpretation of American 
democracy. Their early conceptions of the land sought by 
their parents has had in it all the content of Christian 
teaching. Regardless of denominational leanings, they have 
thronged the church and sought the services of the pastor. 
Here they bring their babes to be baptized. Here they bring 
their dead for the last solemn rites of the Christian Church. 



OUR FUTURE CITIZENS 81 

Old Broadway becomes a home to them. Their ideals and 
hopes all center here. For here the spirit of the Christ is 
interpreted to them in terms of human fellowship and serv- 
ice. All degrees of the process of transforming immigrants 
into Americans are found here. There are the older folks, 
who have slaved and toiled at hard labor, the women still 
wearing a shawl for a headpiece. And there are the younger 
people, school teachers, bankers, business and professional 
men. And the children ! They fairly swarm over the place. 

The educated new generation do not want to be mis- 
sionized. They want a church building that will compare 
well with the banks and other fine buildings that are going 
up in the neighborhood. The Roman Catholic Church has 
lost its hold on them. They must be taught by the evangel- 
ical church. But a "mission" savors too much of patronage 
to them. They receive their education in fine school build- 
ings, why not their religious teaching in a fine church build- 
ing! Why not? Is not the implanting of the principles of 
Christianity as important as the implanting of the rule of 
three, cube root, and political geography! As an evidence 
of their belief in the value of the Christian Church for those 
of their people who have not experienced the blessings which 
it is instrumental in bringing to one's life, these people have 
decided that the best sort of a church building shall be built. 
Large enough, fine enough, and built so as to appeal to all 
classes of the community, Old Broadway Church in its new 
material garb will be indeed a melting pot of the nations. 

Aided in a most generous manner by the man who has 
for fifty years been the superintendent of the Sunday school, 
a fund has been raised to meet the demands which the new 
building brings. Assisted by the Opportunity Fund of the 
Board of Home Missions and Church Extension, a church is 
being erected which will make possible a work adequate 
to the opportunity and obligation presented. It has come 
none too soon. The lodge and other organizations are mak- 
ing strong bids for the men of the community. Labor unions 
are lining them up against some of the best things in our 



82 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

democracy. Atheist and infidel are calling them to live self- 
constituted life-philosophies. Which will win? The Church 
of Jesus Christ! It is ministering with no respect to per- 
son, condition, or creed. It is interpreting democracy in the 
terms of American Christianity. It is serving the people in 
their hour of need without compensation of any sort. It has 
the open sesame to the nation's best. It is opening the way 
to fine living, noble thinking, and a loyalty to the stars and 
stripes that means much for the days ahead. Overseas the 
sons of Old Broadway are fighting to help make the world 
safe for democracy. The value of this democracy they know 
because they are sons of Old Broadway. 

Our Day of Crisis 

What has been done in the effort to make Christian 
democracy the daily purpose of the immigrant is but a faint 
foreshadowing of what must be done. Immigration is now 
practically at a standstill ; eighty per cent of those who to- 
day seek entrance to the United States are Negro, Mexican, 
Portuguese, and other Latin Americans. But when autoc- 
racy has been forever crushed to earth there will be an un- 
precedented rush of alien peoples to our shores. The devas- 
tation of the old home lands will drive thousands to the 
United States. The attractiveness of a settled and prosper- 
ous country will be too strong an appeal to withstand. 
Economic conditions in Europe will be such that skilled 
artisans who escape the physical dangers of war will seek 
employment in America at the only task to which they have 
devoted a lifetime of work. Political conditions will stimu- 
late those who fear a possible future like the past to bid fare- 
well to the land of their birth. Social conditions also will 
bring pressure to bear upon the peasant who has heard dur- 
ing these years of bloodshed of the possibilities of equality 
in the "land of the free and the home of the brave.' ' Spir- 
itual motives will impel others to sail over the sea as did 
their ancestors years ago, to a land where God may be wor- 
shiped in the Spirit. 



OUR FUTURE CITIZENS . 83 

They will come, hundreds of thousands of them. They 
will begin to arrive at the very time when we are busy try- 
ing to readjust our own affairs after the strain of war. Nor 
will it be entirely a service of benefit to them that we will 
render by being ready. Our own national life will be 
affected by the sort of people that come. Pestilential disease 
will drive us to greater medical care in the examination of 
immigrants. The barriers that we raise or lower to the immi- 
grant will have to be considered on other than grounds of 
emotional charity. It is essential that every citizen of the 
United States study the situation as it is and be ready to 
meet the issue when it arrives. It will be here in the form 
of living men and women before we are aware of it. To 
begin to plan then will be too late. 

Consider the dilemma in which the Christian voter will 
find himself if wounded and crippled European soldiers 
unable to earn a livelihood at home invade our industries. 
On the one hand, there is our duty to protect the interests 
of our returned veterans in industrial fields by a refusal 
to permit the alien to land. On the other hand, there is the 
pathetic figure of the allied soldier who has stood shoulder 
to shoulder with our own sons in the great fight for right- 
eousness and permanent peace. Shall the fruits for which 
he sacrificed his best physical powers be denied him in the 
hour of victory? The church must be a strong influence in 
the adjustment of these and kindred questions when the post- 
bellum immigration begins. They cannot be answered ex- 
cathedra. The social and industrial implications as well as 
the moral and religious aspects of each question must be 
thought through to the end. No problem has ever been pre- 
sented to the Church of Jesus Christ equal in difficulty and 
importance to that which is now shaping up for the days 
just ahead. 

Concerning Women 

The status of woman in society has been forever 
changed by the conditions brought about by the war. With 



84 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

the manhood of Europe under arms, women have been com- 
pelled to turn to occupations hitherto regarded as exclu- 
sively belonging to men. With millions of men slain on the 
field of battle there will be an overwhelming preponderance 
of women in Europe during this generation. These women 
will, because of industrial training during the period of the 
war, be fitted for permanent work of this character. Amer- 
ica will become the desired goal of their future labors. With 
an invasion of female labor, social and industrial conditions 
will have to undergo rapid changes. Moral and spiritual in- 
fluences will have to be strengthened. Woman as such will 
have to be considered, regardless of whether or not she is a 
"foreigner." The old ways of dealing with the men who 
came from across the seas in the old days will not do in 
meeting the needs of these independent representatives of 
the new day. 

Those who mastered the immigrant question for the 
church in other days have now a new lesson to learn. New 
means of spiritual and moral protection must be discovered 
for the immigrant woman, or gross injustice will be done her 
despite all legal protection. She will become the mother of 
our future citizens. Her blood will mingle with the blood of 
our own sons. Her boys and girls will be our grandchildren. 
It is more than a national question. It is so personal that it 
strikes at each of our homes. These women will arrive alone 
and unprotected. The ways of those who live in the cities of 
our ports of entry will be new and strange to them. They 
must be met and cared for until they become somewhat ad- 
justed to the new conditions. Otherwise they will be at the 
mercy of those who, in the guise of friends, will exploit them 
and increase the moral disaster of our great cities. 

What an opportunity for the Church of Jesus Christ to 
demonstrate a love for the daughters of all peoples ! Hus- 
bands and fathers killed for the cause of democracy, they 
will be seeking the vision for which their men laid down their 
lives. Shall they find it, or shall the wolves of society snatch 
them away before they have a chance to live as women live 



OUR FUTURE CITIZENS 85 

in the United States ? Close up to the port of entry must the 
church increase its vigilance. Day and night must the dea- 
coness of the Methodist Episcopal Church be found on duty. 
It is not a man's task. Only the best type of Christian 
womanhood is equal to the task. What has been done by 
way of greeting the immigrant woman in the past must be 
done in the future. But there must be more of it. The 
church must provide a larger force. It must be able to guard 
the immigrant woman from the hour she lands until that day 
when self -poised and adjusted she is able to make her way 
alone. 

What Is Our Problem? 

We talk about the immigrant as though he was not a 
part of us. Yet what a revelation comes from reading the 
casualty lists from the battlefront overseas! One fourth 
of the arm-bearing power of our nation is foreign born. A 
morning newspaper picked up at random is evidence of the 
fact that we are all largely Americans by adoption. In the 
lists of killed and wounded we find officers and privates alike 
whose names read as follows: Shanofr", Winkler, Marosco, 
Nazzareno, Vaillancourt, Walczak, Papernick, Koskoska, 
Adamowyzc, Olgivie, Ralicki, Neitzke, Helwig, Liddi, Haig, 
Svegan, Bekas, Gotschall, Pelarz, Alcorage, and the like. 
Why not recognize that in meeting the question of Christian 
democracy for the non-English-speaking people of the 
United States and those who will come later, we are solving 
our own problem! This query gains importance when we 
consider the way in which our entire industrial system is 
carried on by those whom we have unjustly called "for- 
eigners." 

Our guests have become more than alien visitors. They 
are of our own household, and patriotism is as fervent with 
them as it is with us. The great industries that make pos- 
sible the speediest victory and termination of the war are 
manned largely, if not almost entirely, by men from other 
countries. 



86 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

Seven out of every ten who work in iron are immigrants. 

Seven out of every ten miners of bituminous coal are 
immigrants. 

Three out of four living in the packing towns are from 
abroad, or children of those who have been born abroad. 

Four out of every five engaged in the silk industry are 
immigrants. 

Seven out of eight employed in woolen mills are immi- 
grants. Nine out of ten engaged in refining petroleum are 
also immigrants. 

Nineteen out of twenty who produce our sugar supplies 
are also immigrants. 

And seven out of eight who keep our railroads safe were 
born over our borders. 

In every instance these industries mentioned are of the 
most vital importance in the prosecution of the war. How 
far the ofttimes despised immigrant has measured up to his 
task in increasing and improving output is a matter of com- 
mon knowledge. His support of the Red Cross, his war sav- 
ings, and his Liberty Loan subscriptions compare with the 
record of any other proud patriot of the oldest stock in 
America. 

If all these have not yet caught the vision of Christian 
democracy, it means that as a nation we have not yet estab- 
lished that for which our sons are fighting. Is not our prob- 
lem one that must lay bare our own neglect 1 Have we not 
the challenge to set in order our own household ? Shall the 
sons of other lands bring to us that which we thought that 
we possessed? The times are alive with the spirit of 
achievement. i ' We must succeed ! ' ' is the slogan of the hour. 
What answer is the Church of Jesus Christ going to give to 
the challenge which meets it at this important point? To 
succeed in giving every race and tongue within our borders 
the ideals of Christian democracy in everyday terminology 
and practical demonstration means a hastening of that day 
when brotherhood shall be a fact. Nay, more, it means the 



OUR FUTURE CITIZENS 87 

hastening of the time when the United States of America 
shall be not only spokesman for world democracy, but also 
an illustration of that righteousness and justice which Chris- 
tian democracy alone can establish. 

Questions foe Discussion 

1. Why is "foreigner" an incorrect appellation for 
the immigrant to-day? 

2. Is Christian democracy an absolute necessity for the 
immigrant ? Why ? 

3. In what way did the Methodist Episcopal Church 
bid the immigrant welcome in former years f 

4. Discuss the difficulties of assimilating the immi- 
grant. 

5. What is the Bureau of Foreign Work of the Board 
of Home Missions and Church Extension of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church? 

6. Discuss its plans for Italian parishes and Italian 
leadership. 

7. How are these plans adapted to other non-English- 
speaking people ? 

8. Discuss the plans and equipment of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church for Latin- Americans ; Italians ; Bo- 
hemians. Supplement these with your knowledge of local 
work of this sort. 

9. What elements make to-day "a day of crisis" for 
the church and the nation 1 

10. In what way does the immigrant woman now be- 
come an important figure in our national life ? 

11. What is our real problem in connection with the 
immigrant 1 

12. Discuss the obligation to the immigrant revealed 
by the war. 

13. To what extent are we dependent industrially upon 
the immigrant ? 

14. Why is it obligatory for the church to give Chris- 



88 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

tian democracy, both by precept and example, to every for- 
eign-born dweller among us ! 

15. To what extent is the poem quoted below a picture 
of the city "foreigners' " condition and need? 

Where cross the crowded ways of life, 

Where sound the cries of race and clan, 

Above the noise of selfish strife, 

We hear thy voice, O Son of man! 

In haunts of wretchedness and need, 

On shadowed thresholds dark with fears, 

From paths where hide the lures of greed, 
We catch the vision of thy tears. 

From tender childhood's helplessness, 

From woman's grief, man's burdened toil, 

From famished souls, from sorrow's stress, 
Thy heart has never known recoil. 

The cup of water given for thee 

Still holds the freshness of thy grace; 

Yet long these multitudes to see 

The sweet compassion of thy face. 

O Master, from the mountainside, 

Make haste to heal these hearts of pain, 

Among these restless throngs abide, 
tread the city's streets again, 

Till sons of men shall learn thy love 

And follow where thy feet have trod: 

Till glorious from thy heaven above 
Shall come the city of our God. 

— F. Mason North. 



We are awaking suddenly to a realization that so far from our 
home missionary work being over, it is scarcely begun, and so far 
from its scene being confined to the western regions which we have 
regarded as the home mission field par excellence, the storm centers of 
home missions are the strongholds of the older Protestantism, the great 
cities of the East, and the country churches. The causes of the change 
are obvious. They are found in the emergence of a new situation. The 
rapid influx of foreigners, the massing of men in the great cities, the 
denuding of country districts, the growth of class consciousness with 
all the social and industrial problems which it has brought in its train — 
here we have a variety of causes which make demands upon our churches 
of a startling and unexpected kind. — William Adams Brown, in Prob- 
lems and Possibilities of American Protestantism. 

The church has been altogether too much concerned about saving 
herself, and too little concerned in the redemption of the community. 
It goes without saying that just the moment the church becomes more 
interested in her own life than she is in the life of the people, she is at 
once disqualified for rendering efficient service for the uplift of the world. 
The Centenary is furnishing a magnificent opening for the cnurch to 
discover herself, her interests and ambitions, her abilities and disabili- 
ties, and her purposes and designs for and on the race. It is also 
furnishing the Department of City Work of the Board of Home Mis- 
sions and Church Extension of the Methodist Episcopal Church a 
splendid opportunity to make a statement of program for the cities 
throughout the land, and to press the challenge of God down upon the 
people in a way commensurate to the need. God has, perhaps, never 
had a fair opportunity to force his claims on men. In this Centenary, 
for the first time he will have a fair chance to make an impression on 
the heart of the world. — Melvin P. Burns. 

The spirit of democracy is astir in the world as never before. 
Ancient limitations and restraints are being cast aside, dynasties and 
autocracies overthrown. The way is opening for a new world in 
which social justice and cooperation and brotherhood shall take the 
place of individualism and self-seeking and exploitation. But the new 
world will need a new spirit, the spirit of self-control, idealism, re- 
sponsibility and service. It is this new power which society must some- 
how develop through religion and education, working hand in hand. — 
Benjamin 8. Winchester, in Religious Education and Democracy. 



CHAPTEE IV 
" WHERE CBOSS THE CROWDED WAYS OF LIFE" 

The City Democracy's Stkonghold 

Democracy's strongholds must ever be in our great 
American cities. Here the currents of life flow most swiftly 
and mingle most readily. Not only are the nations of the 
earth elbowing each other from pillar to post, the philos- 
ophies of the world are also given utterance. Only a firmly 
entrenched Americanism can withstand the swirling mael- 
strom of the ideas and ideals which have wrecked nations in 
other lands. Only a Christian democracy can dig in deeply 
enough to give Americanism a fair chance to become a dom- 
inating force among these constantly shifting currents of 
thought and life. In communities like that over which the 
Master wept, his disciples of to-da3^ are forced to accept a 
challenge to influence life so as to establish more securely 
the very foundations of our national life, or see them swept 
away forever. 

Boastful Bigness 

With a wild joy we have seen the United States becom- 
ing a nation of cities. We have boastfully pointed out the 
fact that 46.3 per cent of our people live "where cross the 
crowded ways of life. ' ' The fact that in fifteen States more 
than half the people live in cities has been one of our talking 
points. But the scheme of things was not planned for 
growth in city population from 29.5 per cent in 1880 to 36.1 
in 1890 and to 40.5 in 1900. We have created a type of com- 
munity that has outgrown our control. It is swinging along 
at a speed beyond anticipation. One hundred years ago 
there was not a city in the United States that would now 

91 



92 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

rank as second class. To-day there are 226 cities of over 
25,000 population, 153 of from 25,000 to 100,000, and 73 of 
over 100,000. Great material blessings have come with the 
development of these cities. The opportunities afforded 
people in every station of life have increased. Yet with all 
this have also come some of the most difficult conditions for 
demonstrating the principles of Christian democracy with 
which the nation has ever had to deal. 

Our boastfulness turns to dismay as we watch the 
crowds pouring into the subway entrances. The congestion 
of the sidewalks where once the folk with leisure were wont 
to promenade, prompts the query, " Where are we going?" 
With ineffectual protest we endeavor to stem the tide. We 
cry out with a voice unheard because of the city's ceaseless 
roar. Our plan for the people of the city is scarcely noticed 
by the multitude. We suddenly realize that we have spent 
too much time cheering over our bigness and too little in 
strengthening the foundations of our city life as the com- 
munity has spread out and the character of its population 
has changed. Even the arrival of the day of efficiency has 
not saved the situation. Standardized plans have broken 
down. Bewildered and baffled for the time, the Church of 
Jesus Christ stands among the city throngs considering a 
problem which changes so rapidly that instant action alone 
can have any value. 

Two Types of Cities 

Of course cities vary. Those of the older type, such as 
Boston, Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia, have for the 
most part become settled in their traditions and ways of do- 
ing things. It is difficult to influence their life in any funda- 
mental way. They have become institutions of tremendous 
power. The hurrying rush of life and the insistent problems 
which constantly multiply give little opportunity for the 
redirection of mislaid plans or the correction of errors of 
judgment in earlier days. This condition holds not only for 



"WHERE CROSS THE CROWDED WAYS" 93 

the layout of the city, but also for the habits and thought of 
the people. It makes reforms difficult. No large proportion 
of the city's population can be reached with force and power 
at a given time. The message has to be rearranged and re- 
translated so many times before it comes to the last man 
that its significance is somewhat lost. Mere numbers and 
variety of types of mind slow down the speediest of propa- 
ganda. 

The newer cities have developed in a more normal way. 
They have anticipated largeness in the coming years. Ob- 
serving the experience of older and larger cities, they have 
done their municipal planning with judicious foresight. 
Business, industrial and residence sections, schools and 
churches, parks and public meeting places have all been pro- 
vided for. The result has been to make possible the intro- 
duction of new ideas in a way that would reach the people 
in a natural way. Minneapolis is an excellent illustration 
of this more modern city development. 

Figuees of Growth 

The sawdust-box council around the stove in the cross- 
roads general store is not the only place where off-hand solu- 
tions are given for all the ills of the world. Our cities are 
cursed with the same sort of academic benefactors of the 
community. They may gather around a mahogany desk, 
but their methods of reaching conclusions and the value of 
their suggestions are equally worthless. They figure out 
that the growth of American cities is rapid. But unless a 
solution to its problem is offered what is the value of know- 
ing that since 1870 Saint Louis has increased its population 
220 per cent; Boston, 230 per cent; New York, 270 per cent; 
Philadelphia, 275 per cent; Pittsburgh, 310 per cent; Erie, 
460 per cent; Toledo, 660 per cent; Cleveland, 725 per cent; 
Chicago, 830 per cent; Detroit, 930 per cent; Akron, 1,400 
per cent; and Los Angeles, 10,200 per cent? We may put 
our figures in the form of a graph and get the following : 



94 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 



RAPID GROWTH OF CITIES 



Population 
l,000 , sl&60 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 19.17 




DETROIT, MICH 



LOSANGELES.CAL 



SEATTLE.WASH. 



T0LED0.0. 



AKRON.O. 
xERIE.PA. 

OKLAHOMA CITY, 
OKLA. 



What Does This Gkowth Mean ? 

Those who deal in figures forget that most people think 
in concrete terms. What this rapid growth has meant in its 
effect on the community is the question which they would 
have answered. They want to know if this increase is alone 



"WHERE CROSS THE CROWDED WAYS" 95 

responsible for forcing the people out into the suburbs as 
business has crowded its way further and further uptown. 
They formerly lived within walking distance of their busi- 
ness. A healthy community spirit prevailed. The interest 
of the entire city was the interest of each individual. They 
have moved without question when their homes have been 
turned into places of commercial and industrial activity. 
They have seen the community rechange into dwelling places 
for non-English-speaking peoples. The old time American 
ways of the community have given place to customs from 
the old world. What does it mean? Who shall answer 
them? Where does the responsibility rest for these 
changes ? Who has permitted the democracy of our fathers 
to become diluted in the streams of un-American thought and 
customs? It is no idle question which the city's teeming 
millions are asking. 

Some Penalties of Growth 

complex life 

Life becomes very complex in the crowded city. Social 
conditions both in the contact with one 's fellows and the ordi- 
nary social activities are of such character that life has be- 
come an incessant rush. In the place of the ordinary forms 
of home entertainment and similar diversions people now 
pay for their amusements. No longer is found the old-time 
neighborhood and community life. A sort of exclusiveness 
characterizes most city people. One may live in an apart- 
ment house for months and never know who the people are 
above or below, to the left or to the right. Nor does one 
care. The vast scale upon which everything is carried on 
creates indifference to anything not immediately of con- 
cern to the individual. A selected few make up the circle of 
one's intimate acquaintances. Another group come into the 
hours of business. A third group are met at lodge, while, if 
one attends church, it is still another. As for the multitudes, 



96 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

we touch elbows with them daily, not knowing or caring who 
they are. 

THE HOME HAS LOST 

The home has suffered in some of the larger cities. The 
building of large apartment or tenement houses has limited 
the amount of space which one can afford to rent to two or 
five rooms. There is not much chance for personal privacy 
under such conditions. A common gathering of the family 
for the evening hours is out of the question. The home is 
rapidly becoming a place where people go to sleep. Electric 
lights and steam radiators fail to create such a homey at- 
mosphere as the center table reading lamp and the logs afire 
on the andiron. Bachelor apartments and apartments for 
bachelor girls are on the increase. More and more is there 
a tendency to board. For those who must live from seven to 
eleven in two rooms, and even six in one, where poor ventila- 
tion and lighting as well as inadequate furnishing character- 
ize the place, "home" does not have its old-time meaning. 
And of these latter there are literally hundreds of thousands 
in the United States. Home has ever been the hearthstone 
of American democracy. Here its principles have been 
made clear to the growing boys and girls. To the civic basis 
given in the public schools have been added the moral and 
religious aspects of the doctrine. Have modernity and our 
great city robbed us of something which must be supplied in 
some other way and by some other agency? 

CONGESTED POPULATION 

Congestion of population is a constantly increasing men- 
ace to the best life of any community. In New York city, 
below Fourteenth Street, there are three sections where the 
population averages 800 to the acre, and four sections where 
it averages 600 to 800 to the acre. In the same city there is 
a block whose density of population is 1,260 to the acre. The 
children are affected because they must play in streets over- 



« < WHERE CROSS THE CROWDED WAYS" 97 

crowded and choked with city traffic, and the toll of their 
lives each year is exceedingly heavy. Not only is bodily 
injury apparent in these sections hut also crime and vice are 
bred and an evil economic burden is seen in steadily increas- 
ing rents and lower wages. 

POLYGLOT POPULATION 

A great deal of the congestion is in sections occupied by 
foreign populations. The polyglot character of the popu- 
lation of the cities of the United States is seen in the follow- 
ing figures for twenty cities, which have the largest foreign 
population, including native whites of foreign or mixed par- 
entage : 

Fall River, Massachusetts 86.7 per cent 

New York City, New York 80.7 per cent 

Lowell, Massachusetts 80 . 5 per cent 

Chicago, Illinois 79 . 6 per cent 

Milwaukee, Wisconsin 78 . 9 per cent 

Paterson, New Jersey 77.4 per cent 

Boston, Massachusetts 76 . 5 per cent 

Cleveland, Ohio 76 . 4 per cent 

Cambridge, Massachusetts 75 . 6 per cent 

Detroit, Michigan 75 . 3 per cent 

Bridgeport, Connecticut 73 .4 per cent 

Providence, Rhode Island 73.3 per cent 

Newark, New Jersey 72.7 per cent 

San Francisco, California 72.3 per cent 

Jersey City, New Jersey 72.0 per cent 

Buffalo, New York 71.8 per cent 

New Haven, Connecticut 71.8 per cent 

Worcester, Massachusetts 71.6 per cent 

Saint Paul, Minnesota 71.3 per cent 

Scranton, Pennsylvania 70.2 per cent 

An excellent illustration of the cosmopolitan character 
of the modern city and its racial distribution is seen in the 
following study of the population of the city of Chicago. 
According to the school census of May 4, 1914, the popula- 
tion of the city of Chicago was 2,437,526. The different na- 



98 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

tionalities of this population are represented according to 
the following figures : 

American-born, white 752,111 or 30.1 per cent 

German* 399,977 or 16 .1 per cent 

Polish* 231,346 or 9.2 per cent 

Russian* 166,134 or 6.6 per cent 

Irish 146,560 or 5.9 per cent 

Swedish 118,533 or 4.8 per cent 

Italian , 108,160 or 4.3 per cent 

Bohemian 102,749 or 4.1 per cent 

Austrian* 58,483 or 2.3 per cent 

Negro 54,557 or 2.2 per cent 

Norwegian 47,496 or 1.9 per cent 

English 45,714 or 1.8 per cent 

Canadian 44,744 or 1.8 per cent 

Hungarian 31,863 or 1.3 per cent 

Lithuanian 24,650 or 1.0 per cent 

Danish 22,394 or 1.0 per cent 

Scotch 17,662 or 0.9 per cent 

Hollander 16,914 or 0.7 per cent 



96. per cent 

Amekicanization Must Be Rapid 

This state of affairs but emphasizes the location where 
the church and every other American institution must do its 
best work at a rapid speed. The necessary assimilation is 
sorely hindered by the economic oppression and social in- 
justice which has to be met by these people of diverse 
thought and manner of life. There is no magic word that 
may be spoken with the result that the fine-spirited Christian 
American leaps out from the place where stood the "for- 
eigner. ' ' The process is the slow one of life contact whereby 
the "foreigner" beholds the doctrine of Christian democ- 
racy in the concrete and accepts it because he sees that it 

* The larger number of Jews of the city belong to the nationalities 
starred. 

A foreigner is one born outside of the United States or whose parents 
or father were foreign born. 



"WHEKE CROSS THE CROWDED WAYS" 99 




o 
en; 

o 

m 
»— i 

i— i 
O 

a 



P4 c 



, ffjC 



is good. The fact that these people for the most part gather 
in colonies peculiar to their racial heritage challenges to a 
leadership capable of bringing to Little Italy, the Ghetto, or 
Bohemia the practice of all that we want them to be. 



100 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

City Dwellers Migratory 

The people of the city are migratory in character. 
There is little tendency to spend one 's life in the house where 
life has its beginning. And to move from city to city is a 
commonplace. A page from therrecords of a well-known 
city church gives concrete significance to this habit. When 
the present pastor took charge four years ago the member- 
ship was 195. He has since then received by letter 117 and 
from preparatory membership 101, a total of 218, which 
would increase his membership to 413. But during the same 
time 47 have removed by letter to other churches, and 113 
have moved overnight without leaving any trace of them- 
selves ; 10 have died. These 170 reduce the membership to 
243. Boarding house personnels change daily. Young mar- 
ried people with no ties to bind them to particular locations 
move frequently. The effect on real estate agencies is to 
increase the insistence on yearly leases. The church has no 
such advantage. It must leaven the lives of people while 
they are in the community. It must so grip them with its 
message and opportunity for service that they will seek out 
another church in the community to which they move. 

Church Leaders Not Alert 

This moving tendency is often a part of a change in the 
national characteristics of the community. Those who for 
political and business purposes have watched these changes 
for years are awake to what may be expected. They see the 
Irish followed in succession by the Italian, the Slav, the Pole, 
the Hebrew, and the Oriental. The leaders of the church are 
not.as wise as these other leaders of the people. They wait 
until the community has made impossible the ministry of a 
church along the lines laid out for it before the change. 
They bemoan the lack of foresight of the fathers. And then 
they neglect the opportunity to prepare for the next change 
and underman the dying church which still stands among a 
community of people needing its ministry. 



"WHERE CROSS THE CROWDED WAYS" 101 

New York city is fruitful in illustrations of the failure 
of the church either to recognize or to meet the new condi- 
tions. Since the early eighties, during which time the popu- 
lation increased by more than 200,000 in that section, 100 
Protestant institutions moved out of the lower East Side. 
Those churches that remained failed to notice that anything 
had occurred to the community. One, the Duane Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, established before 1787, had an 
endowment of $75,000 left it on condition that it remain be- 
low Spring Street. It remained. It still remains, but only as 
a repository for the remnants of the old families who still 
live. It is in a polyglot community, but it is not a force in the 
lives of these non-English-speaking people. Washington 
Square Methodist Episcopal Church is another instance of 
failure to meet the needs of the community. Historically 
strong and with a long list of great preachers, possessing a 
$300,000 endowment which came from a merger with the 
Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church, its tendency has been 
to furnish good preaching for its membership and neglect to 
see any obligation to the foreign population which had 
grown up around it. Other churches have eaten up their 
property with mortgages for money to pay the running ex- 
penses, without rendering service to their immediate com- 
munity. 

And what of a community of 60,000 people such as sur- 
rounds the Central Park Methodist Episcopal Church, Saint 
Paul, Minnesota? Where thirteen churches once ministered 
there are now but two left. The boarding house and room- 
ing population has increased. Ten thousand transients 
mingle for brief seasons with the permanent dwellers. Now 
a business center, it will soon be the leading factory district 
of the city. Must this church follow the lead of the eleven 
who have gone, haul down the flag of the cross, and leave 
democracy's fine task to unchristian forces? 

If the roll were to be called on this dismal phase of the 
failure of the church to be a part of the city's growth and 
change, which of our proud cities would not be listed with 



102 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

the illustrations just cited? Saint Paul and New York do 
not stand alone in this matter. Nor are they necessarily the 
most glaring examples, for in New York city Methodism 
proclaims the gospel in eight different languages. They are 
used to point out that both the older and the newer types of 
cities are equally guilty in withholding from the city's multi- 
tudes the message for the deliverance of which they were 
built and dedicated to the service of God. Great sections of 
the cities populated by non-English-speaking people, occu- 
pied by business and industrial plants, given over to far dif- 
ferent usages than in the days of our fathers, have been for- 
saken by the Church of Jesus Christ and given up to the 
enemies of both democracy and Christianity. If Jesus wept 
over Jerusalem, he certainly would weep over the cities of 
the United States. And there doubtless would be a bit of 
scorn in his expression, as drying his eyes he beheld the 
stone edifices which might have saved the cities from so 
much woe, a mockery to the truth they were erected to teach, 
because of failure to minister to each changing need as it 
arose. 

The City Task a Hard One 

It is difficult to analyze the religious life of a large city. 
Occasionally a federation of churches undertakes a survey 
of this character, but by the time the survey is finished the 
constant shifting of population has made it unreliable. 
Moreover, almost all surveys of this character are apt to 
become wooden, and all too frequently the heart element is 
lost in the mass of statistics gathered. Besides, the same 
sort of a study made in different cities brings very different 
reactions. There is a somewhat definite character to every 
community. Various phases of community life are ex- 
pressed in terms of this character. This is none the less true 
when it comes to religion, for we find religion expressing 
itself in terms of all life. The religious statistician and sur- 
veyor frequently overlook this fact, and because they find 
different modes of expression for religion in different cities 



< < WHERE CROSS THE CROWDED WAYS" 103 

conclude that there is something wrong with the religion in 
one place or the other. 

Many, however, are awake to the fact that religion is 
expressing itself in new ways. One may be religious and not 
of necessity be a churchman. Christianity is finding oppor- 
tunities of practical expression in a thousand ways that the 
church has not taken into its program. The message of the 
church has been accepted literally by thousands who are 
now expressing the religion they have been taught in prac- 
tical forms of life. These ways have to do with home, hous- 
ing, education, wages, neighborly helpfulness, the rights of 
the down-trodden, protest against unjust burdens, and the 
like. The Christian Church must adapt itself to the new de- 
mand in order to become a channel for this new expression 
of its own message. 

Meeting the New Demand 

The church in some cities has made isolated attempts to 
meet the new situation. Saint George's Protestant Epis- 
copal Church, New York city, conducts a trade school for 
the young people of its community in which are taught man- 
ual training, carpentry, electrical wiring, sheet metal, 
mechanical drawing, plumbing, sign painting, and printing. 
Thev also have a lunch room for women with a record 

mi 

number of 506 lunches in one day. Athletics and gymnastics 
are provided for boys and girls ; baths for little girls average 
110 per month. A Parish nurse examines children, and free 
clinic service is rendered. In the educational departments 
are taught the care of the sick, first aid, cooking, and house- 
keeping. Regular classes are held in dressmaking, em- 
broidering, knitting, and crocheting. The Boys' Club has 
1,000 members and is open five nights a week, its employ- 
ment bureau placing two hundred boys in good positions last 
year. A seaside home is provided for women and children 
where they have two weeks ' vacation in summer. 

The Seaman 's Church Institute of New York, the great- 
est institution for seamen in the world, is meeting in a re- 



104 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

markable way the needs of the thousands of transient sailors 
who are in the city for a month or less. The dormitories and 
rooms provide reasonable and clean lodgings and the seamen 
can obtain everything in the building from a shave to a new 
suit of clothes. Game rooms, entertainment hall, and read- 
ing rooms provide means of occupying spare time, and the 
popular soda fountain is in successful competition with the 
nearby saloons. Shipwrecked sailors and the survivors of 
the torpedoed ships are brought here in great numbers and 
are given lodging and clothing and care in the various de- 
partments. The religious life is looked after by Russian, 
Swedish, and American ministers, who conduct services in 
four languages, and the housemother is in constant demand 
with those who need advice or sympathy. This Institute be- 
longs to the Protestant Episcopal Church. 

The Halstead Street Institutional Church (Methodist 
Episcopal), Chicago, is the only English-speaking Pro- 
testant Church and Social Settlement for 50,000 people. It 
is located among foreign-speaking people and demonstrates 
the following program : 

Moving Picture Entertainment — Monday evening. 
Ladies' Aid — Tuesday. 
Prayer Meeting — Wednesday evening. 
Mothers' Sewing Club — Thursday afternoon. 
Men's Brotherhood — Tuesday evening. 
Chorus Choir Rehearsal — Friday evening. 
Girls' Cooking Clubs — Every afternoon and evening. 
Girls' Sewing School — Every Saturday afternoon. 
Children's Service — Every morning. 
Gymnasium Classes — Every afternoon and evening. 
Boys' Industrial Classes — Saturday morning. 
Boys' Club Room — Open evenings. 
Queen Esther Circle — Last Sunday of each month. 
Cafeteria Noon Lunch for Men and Women — Every day but Satur- 
day and Sunday. 

Daily Vacation Bible School — Six weeks during July and August. 

In addition to this it conducts a free dispensary and does a 
large amount of relief work. 



"WHERE CROSS THE CROWDED WAYS" 105 

The Settlement and Church of All Nations, on the 
lower East Side of New York, has been meeting the new 
demand. It was founded by courageous Christian men in 
the Methodist Episcopal Church who deplored the wholesale 
Protestant desertion of that thronging immigrant section of 
the metropolis. In the midst of a modern Babel this center 
plays the role of "Good Neighbor" to its polyglot com- 
munity. Five languages (Russian, Chinese, Italian, Yiddish, 
and English) are at present used by the church and a 
half dozen more will be added when the funds permit. Eng- 
lish is employed in all work among foreign-born children. 
There may be hyphenated Americans among immigrant 
adults, but the immigrant child is an ardent American and is 
treated as such. Night schools, mothers' meetings, kinder- 
garten, clubs, social organizations, prayer and preaching 
services are conducted for Italians. Night schools, sewing 
schools, Y. M. C. A., kindergarten, Boy Scouts and girls' 
organizations are flourishing departments of the Chinese 
work. Boys' clubs and a Jewish mothers' meeting are the 
present activities among the Jews. The outstanding feat- 
ures in the Russian department are the Russian Forum and 
1 ' Enlightenment, " a Russian religious social monthly maga- 
zine. At the Forum an audience that has frequently totaled 
800 during the last winter gathers weekly for the lecture and 
for the discussion that follows. The magazine enables the 
church to conduct a sane propaganda that has been of re- 
markable patriotic service during these intense war days. A 
first-class motion picture equipment has been unrolling 
amusement and instruction before the delighted eyes of 800 
young people on winter Saturday evenings for the past nine 
years. The church has its own vacation home at Long 
Branch, New Jersey, where workers, babies, and working 
girls can enjoy a ten days' vacation at the seashore. 

While these and many more institutions of this char- 
acter are serving the Kingdom and the city in a large way, 
the church in general has clung to its old standard program 
of preaching, Sunday school, prayer meeting, and pastoral 



106 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

calls. To make this statement is not to depreciate this form 
of ministry nor to depreciate the labors of the countless min- 
isters who have toiled and given their best to the work of the 
Kingdom in the city. It does, however, raise the question as 
to whether the church in any large way has sought the soul 
of the city ; whether it has noted the change in environment 
around its old family church ; whether it has merely watched 
the incoming foreigner and has not noted the change from 
a Protestant population to one that is Catholic or Jewish. 

The Residential Section and the Suburb 

In the sections of our cities now known as residential 
the church is in a flourishing condition. It is meeting the 
problems of its own field in a more satisfactory way than is 
the downtown church which has just been discussed. For 
one reason there is generally a larger and better-trained 
membership. Those who once carried on the work of the 
church downtown are now the officials and workers here. 
Then there is more money available for the support of the 
church. It is easier to get stronger preachers. While some 
churches of this character are satisfied to minister to their 
own membership, others have adopted a widespread com- 
munity program, and this in many instances takes in the 
partial support of mission work in the more needy sections 
of the city. The problem here is to see that the church does 
not become self-centered and forget both its missionary 
opportunity and obligation in its own home town. 

Out beyond the residential section of the city lie the 
suburbs. A serious condition exists in many of the churches 
here. Many of the former supporters and workers of the 
downtown city churches have homes in the suburbs. Not all 
of them have continued to be active workers when they have 
become suburbanites. To some the church in the suburbs is 
a haven of rest — and they are resting. Away from the cease- 
less roar of their business activities, they forget the religious 
necessities of those who call home the very business district 
where they make the money with which to purchase comfort 



"WHERE CROSS THE CROWDED WAYS" 107 

in the quiet outside communities. Thus the church has the 
problem of stimulating these former "active" members into 
new life. It must arouse the suburban church to its obliga- 
tion to the struggling church in the city. It must bring the 
vision of connectionalism to those who have forgotten the 
Kingdom's united battle in the satisfaction of hearing good 
sermons and excellent music. 



A Question for Methodism 

Methodism is well organized for uniting all of its 
churches in a common task. The city and its environs pre- 
sent one of the best opportunities for a practical demonstra- 
tion. Is the Methodist Episcopal Church able to rise to the 
present-day challenge and make good? 

The Methodist Episcopal Church at the General Con- 
ference of 1916 provided for a Department of City Work 
as a part of the reorganization of the Board of Home Mis- 
sions and Church Extension. The Department of City Work 
carries on part of its activities through the City Church 
Extension Societies of the church, but its work extends be- 
yond the limits of their activities. These city societies, 
which may be formed in any community of two thousand 
five hundred or more having three or more Methodist Epis- 
copal churches, are the local Home Missionary Societies of 
the Church. Once a year two delegates from each city 
society, together with the superintendent of the Department 
of City Work, and the corresponding secretary of the Board 
of Home Missions and Church Extension of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, meet in a Council of Cities, the purpose 
of which is to discuss the obligation of Methodism to the task 
of the city, and to define the best ways of bringing the gospel 
and Christianized social service into the lives of the thou- 
sands of unchurched in the cities of the land. Out of the ex- 
perience of all who are related to Methodist Episcopal work 
in the city has come an answer to the question, "What should 
be done ? ' ' It takes the form of a definite program for cities 



108 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

which have not worked out an adequate program for them- 
selves. 

Methodism's Definite City Pkogkam 

A great denomination should have some central head- 
quarters in every city. Here may be held all of the de- 
nominational gatherings, the offices of leaders may be here, 
and a clearing house may readily be established for all 
things pertaining to the program for the redemption of the 
city as Methodism is related to it. 

THE CENTBAL DOWNTOWN CHUKCH 

First of all it should be a church, and a church that is 
planned in equipment and staff on the broadest and strong- 
est lines. No ordinary preacher should occupy the pulpit, 
but a prophet whose voice carries conviction to the business 
men, the transients, and the thousands of others who make 
its section their dwelling place for a season. The city is 
crying out for a message of hope and guidance which it is 
able to understand. Only a man of the finest religious expe- 
rience and personal qualifications can meet the demand. 
Such a man should not be weighted down with the necessity 
of raising the money with which to carry on its work. The 
forces of the entire city Methodism should be back of him. 

Associated with the man chosen to speak forth an inter- 
pretation of the teachings of Jesus in terms of the modern 
city there should be a neighborhood evangelist. A great 
task and a fruitful ministry await the serious labors of one 
who will find the homes where the message is needed and 
then relate the whole ministry of the church to these needs. 
Thousands there are who have lost sight of the church, who 
nevertheless will welcome its message of love and hope when 
the church brings it to them. 

Here also should be the center for religious training 
for the denomination. A thoroughly equipped director of 
religious education should center the religious teacher train- 
ing and service training here so as to have efficient training 



< ' WHERE CROSS THE CROWDED WAYS" 109 

and avoid the multiplying of small inefficient groups in the 
several churches. 

An institution of this sort can relate to itself a group 
of small, weak churches and aid them in fulfilling the min- 
istry which their particular community is demanding. 

The Trinity-Wabash Parish in Chicago illustrates the 
possibilities of such a church. Previous to the organization 
and centralization of this parish there were six Methodist 
Episcopal churches in this territory, each having a pastor, 
and each becoming weaker each year. The present organiza- 
tion places three churches under one administration with a 
relationship of one sort or another to each of the other 
churches. Two pastors divide their labors, one doing the 
calling and taking care of the financial part of the work, and 
the other superintending the work program of the parish 
and all of the activities. Associated with the pastors are a 
director of religious education, furnished by the Board of 
Sunday Schools of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and 
several other workers. Among the things realized by this 
organization are specialized supervision, economy in work- 
ers, unity in service, cooperation, and the appeal of a com- 
prehensive program. 

In Detroit Methodism was confronted with a number 
of small churches badly located. Here two churches were 
doing ineffectual work when a fire destroyed one of them. 
After a thoroughgoing survey, the two small churches were 
united and moved to a location near the social, recreational, 
and geographical center of a neighborhood of two hundred 
thousand people, in which there was not a single Protestant 
church to command the situation. Here was planned a great 
building on a spot chosen because of its logical fitness for an 
extension that would evangelize the great community. A 
three-story building with all the conveniences of a modern 
plant, gymnasium, social parlors, community assembly 
room, roof garden, etc., is being erected. When complete 
it will cost $185,000, $20,000 of which was given to Detroit 
Methodism out of the Opportunity Fund of the Board of 



110 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

Home Missions and Church Extension of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. 

The seven downtown Methodist Episcopal churches of 
Seattle, Washington, namely, First, Madison Street, Grace, 
Haven, Norwegian-Danish, Swedish, and Japanese, are unit- 
ing in a Downtown Methodist Council. The membership of 
this council is made up of the pastor and two laymen dele- 
gated by the official board of each church. The council sur- 
veys the field, endeavors to get a clear understanding of the 
problem, takes account of the forces available for the task, 
and submits to the several official boards a policy of work. 

In Washington, D. C, the Methodist Episcopal churches 
are organizing their activities so as to have four distinct 
centers for special types of work. At the Metropolitan 
Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church will be centered the 
city soldier work and outdoor evangelism, especially street 
preaching. Wesley Chapel will be the headquarters for 
Christian education. Here will be carried on institutes and 
training classes for Sunday School and Epworth League 
work for the city and environs. North Capitol Methodist 
Episcopal Church, adjacent to the Lucy Webb Hayes Train- 
ing School for Deaconesses and Nurses, is to be the center 
for social service work with a specialist having oversight. 
This will include work among Italians. The social program 
for Washington Methodism will include an occasional enter- 
tainment for congressmen, senators, members of the Su- 
preme Court, etc., who are affiliated with the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. Foundry Methodist Episcopal Church was 
the scene of the first venture of this nature. 

COMMUNITY CENTEE FOE SOCIAL WELFAEE 

The downtown central church itself should be the com- 
munity center for social welfare. This is true also of 
churches in other sections of the city, according to the size 
and needs of the particular community. 

The Morgan Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, 
of Boston, is rendering a unique service as a community 



"WHERE CROSS THE CROWDED WAYS' ' 111 

church. It conducts a children's work whereby it labors 
among fifteen hundred children of twenty-five different na- 
tionalities. Kindergarten, day nursery, music, and indus- 
trial school and religious teaching are all having their influ- 
ence upon both the children and their parents. About ten 
years ago an industrial work was started whereby old 
clothes, furniture, old shoes, etc., are collected in bags, 
brought to the industrial plant, renovated, and sold to poor 
people of the community. Those who do the work of recon- 
struction on these brokendown articles are the poor people 
of the community who could not find remunerative work in 
any other way. They are thus provided with occupation 
which gives them the means to purchase things which they 
need. Every morning at eight o'clock the pastor preaches 
to them before they begin their daily work. The rescue work 
of the Seavey Seminary Settlement is described on page 
113. The other feature of Morgan Memorial is the Church 
of All Nations, which gives a cordial welcome and ministers 
to foreigners of the community. 

The Grood Will Industries of San Francisco do a great 
work along the lines of Morgan Memorial Industries, while 
the new Plaza Community Center, of Los Angeles, Cali- 
fornia, will duplicate the work of Morgan Memorial for the 
Latin- Americans of southern California. The Methodists of 
other cities are rapidly adopting the Morgan Memorial plan. 

The opportunities of ministry for a thoroughly 
equipped community church are almost unlimited. The 
auditorium may be used for lectures and moving picture ex- 
hibits. Clinics and dispensaries may be conducted for the 
poor. Gymnasiums, swimming pools, and shower baths may 
be provided in the basement for the young people. There is 
no limit to the kind of clubs that may be organized for both 
boys and girls, for mothers and for fathers. Kindergarten, 
day nurseries, lodging houses for working girls, community 
choruses, orchestras, visiting nurses, vocational schools, 
summer camps, classes for teaching English to foreigners — 
the list is almost endless. Not every church organized for 



112 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

social welfare would have all of the activities, but each 
church may take that portion of the list which can be made of 
service to its own community. 

The English-speaking and polyglot industrial groups in 
our cities include over 10,000,000 who are employed in manu- 
facturing and mechanical industries. Among these people is 
an increasing unrest. The sporadic successes of the I. W. W. 
indicate the situation among unskilled workers, and as soon 
as the war is over problems now held in abeyance by gov- 
ernment supervision will become live issues. In the modern 
city the industrial community church must adapt itself not 
only for the urgent needs of to-day but also for the changes 
which are sure to come with the inauguration of peace. 

To meet such conditions neighborhood churches should 
be planned in polyglot communities where specific needs 
have been determined. The importance of this type of 
church ministry is seen in cities like Gary, Indiana ; Detroit, 
Michigan ; and Toledo, Ohio. When the church is in a poly- 
glot community it either becomes a Church of All Nations or 
expires. The ministry of this type of church has already 
been described on page 105. In the Church of All Nations at 
Morgan Memorial, Boston, provision is also made for train- 
ing the leaders of non-English-speaking peoples of New 
England, Italians, Turks, Armenians, Greeks, and Jews, the 
entire school constituting a department of Boston Univers- 
ity. For this type of work a community plant and equip- 
ment are absolutely essential, as is also an adequate staff of 
workers, which should include among the foremost a reli- 
gious-educational director. 

Already the Methodist Episcopal Church conducts spe- 
cial missions for foreign-speaking groups. These are scat- 
tered all over the country and include Italian, Scandinavian 
(Norwegian, Swedish, Danish), Chinese, Japanese, Slavs 
(Bohemian, Polish, Russian, Servian, Roumanian), Hun- 
garian, Lithuanian, Greek, Armenian, Finnish, Syrian, 
Portuguese, French and French-Canadian, Welsh, and Jew- 
ish. The Americanizing process which changes the for- 



"WHERE CROSS THE CROWDED WAYS" 113 

eigner into an English-speaking individual makes work 
among these people more or less permanently missionary in 
method ; for as soon as they become Americanized they are 
assimilated into the American church. In fact, many 
churches do successful work among foreign-speaking peo- 
ples in the English language entirely. 

The community church for Negroes is also a necessity. 
The northward emigration of great numbers of Negroes in 
1917 so altered the status of the Negro population and modi- 
fied the character of some of the cities in general that there 
developed urgent need for an increased number of pastors, 
more and larger churches, and community centers capable 
of caring for the last need of these Southern strangers in the 
North. Especially is there need of social workers to look out 
for the housing conditions of these people. 

The community church in the suburban district is mani- 
festing its usefulness. Before the suburb becomes absolutely 
static in its methods it is wisdom to provide for a com- 
munity plant and equipment, adequate churches and pastors 
to make the religious life of the suburb an actual part of the 
Kingdom's progress. 

SCIENTIFIC KESCUE WOKK 

So long as sin exists in the world there will be wrecks of 
men seeking whatever port they are able to make. This fact 
accounts for the rescue missions of the church. Such mis- 
sions have been ministering to men and women along the by- 
ways of the cities for many years. The governor of the 
State of New York recently said: "Hadley Hall on the 
Bowery costs less, but accomplishes more, than all the police 
stations on the East Side. A rescued man at work is worth 
much more than a tramp in jail. It is of far greater value 
to the State to reform a man than merely to punish a crim- 
inal. ' ' 

The Seavey Seminary Settlement of the Morgan Memo- 
rial Methodist Episcopal Church, Boston, emphasizes what 
can be done for a man who has entirely lost his bearings if 



114 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

the best of our knowledge is applied to the task. The man 
who comes to the door of this institution may not enter if he 
has as much as five cents to his name. Only the penniless is 
welcome. Once in, he receives the ministry of five skilled ex- 
perts. He has a thorough physical examination. He comes 
under the direction of a social secretary. A psychologist 
gives him a modified form of the binet test. An industrial 
director gives him a chance to get started in the way of self- 
support, and a minister talks to him at prayers concerning 
the helpfulness of fellowship with Jesus Christ. The man 
earns all that he receives, and as he improves he is promoted 
from the double-decker beds of the Junior Department to the 
single beds of the Middlers. When he becomes a Senior he 
is given a key to the front door and is made a Big Brother 
to one of the Juniors. Once a week the entire staff of work- 
ers lunch together and check up each man. 

In the downtown business section of Sioux City, Iowa, 
is the Helping Hand Mission. Here a man with vision estab- 
lished a humble work among life 's castaways and now has a 
great cheap hotel which helps to support the evangelistic 
mission which he conducts. The Mission Hotel attracts men 
because they can secure a room for thirty-five cents and a 
bed in the dormitory for fifteen cents. This draws the home- 
less men around the mission, provides a place to care for 
them at a minimum expense, and gives unusual opportunities 
for teaching them the message of the Master. It is hoped 
that this mission will gradually develop into Methodism's 
downtown evangelistic center, with a training school for 
Christian workers, and a university settlement for Morn- 
ingside College. 

The City for God 

The finest of programs will not win the city to God. In 
addition to careful study of the problems of the city, there 
must also be the consecration to service and support on the 
part of the people to become interested. The Centenary of 
Methodist Missions affords an excellent opportunity for the 



" WHERE CROSS THE CROWDED WAYS" 115 

church to cease marking time or retreating in the city strong- 
hold, and to advance. No half-way measures will accom- 
plish the needed results; the church without reserve must 
give of itself, its time and its money. With the church in the 
city properly equipped and manned the next generation 
should be full of Christian leaders who could make the city 
Christian for all time. With the city Christian democracy 
is saved for all time. And with democracy safe, the nation 
and the world will reap a harvest of character and right- 
eousness, justice and peace worth the cost of making a world 
safe for its reception. 

Questions for Discussion 

1. Why is the city democracy's stronghold! 

2. To what extent is America becoming a nation of 
cities ? Prove your statement. 

3. Characterize the two general types of American 
cities. 

4. What problems are common to all cities ? 

5. Discuss the new polyglot city. How general is it? 

6. In what respect has the church studied its city 
obligation ? 

7. Cite some instances of attempts on the part of the 
church to meet the new demand. 

8. What part does the church in the residential section 
and the suburb play in the evangelization of the city ? 

9. State Methodism's definite city program. 

10. What is a central downtown church? A com- 
munity church! 

11. In what way must industrial centers be ministered 
to? 

12. How may the ' * foreigner ' ' be won 1 

13. What is scientific rescue work! 

14. What obligation has the Methodist Episcopal 
Church to help Christianize the democracy of our cities ? 



I had a talk with Old Glory just the other day with reference to 
the Negro. I said, "Old Glory, if you have anything- against my race, 
tell me." I said, "I understand you have three disgraceful scars on you, 
put there by somebody." I looked and saw one that had been put there 
by a man on the evening that the immortal Lincoln was killed. I said, 
"Let me see the spot and I can tell you whether it is a black hand or a 
white hand." I saw it and said, "It is a white hand, not a black hand — 
I can tell by the finger marks." On the other side Old Glory had an- 
other spot, put there by somebody who killed that immortal man, Gar- 
field; and I- looked to see if it was a white hand or black; it was white, 
not black. Then I said, "I wonder if there is another one?" I saw 
another one, put there by somebody who killed the sainted McKinley, 
and I said, "I wonder if that is a black man's finger; I can tell by the 
clumsy thumb." But I saw the finger was that of a white man. I said, 
"Old Glory, I am glad to tell you that of all the stains made upon 
you since you have been floating over these lands of the sunset skies, 
not one has been put there by a son of Ham or a black man !" — Charles 
A. Tindley, in How Shall We Meet the Negro Invasion of Northern 
Cities? 

If education is to be the open sesame to full participation in a 
democratic nation, then education should be provided for every man, 
woman, or child, regardless of race or condition. The road up the hills 
of learning is steep and often difficult to follow. So much more the 
need of guides who have the sympathies of the real teacher. Only such 
can be helpful on such a journey. Only such inspire the slow of mind 
to push ahead. This has been found especially true in the education 
of the Negro. Handicapped by a consciousness that the upward road 
has in it bypaths which his white neighbors are not obliged to take, the 
colored boy has frequently thought it not worth while to journey far 
on learning's highway. It is at this point in his development that a 
teacher who is more than a wage-earner is able to be of genuine service. 
To point out the fields of usefulness open to the Negro race, despite 
the handicaps of birth, is to increase the number of leaders who shall 
eventually summons hundreds of thousands of these people to the joy 
and benefits of a thoroughly trained mind. — John Bascom. 



CHAPTER V 
THE CHURCH AND THE NEGRO 

Let Us Be Frank 

Christian democracy cannot have two interpretations. 
Its fnll message must be the same to all peoples, regardless 
of color or condition. Otherwise it is not what it claims to 
be. Its trend is toward the very autocracy which it would 
crush. This fact creates difficulties and problems, but unless 
they are met and solved there will ever be a discordant note 
in democracy's song, and twelve million of the nation's 
population will be unable to sing it with enthusiasm and joy. 
What a confession to make to the nations of the earth! 
What a failure to note in the records of advance and pros- 
perity ! Shall the fruits of Christian democracy not be given 
freely to our Negro population? A left-handed application 
of its principles to these people is intolerable. It is unjust to 
them and soul-shriveling to those who thus administer it. It 
leaves a blot on the beauty of a nation which the world is 
examining to-day with microscopic closeness. It raises the 
question as to why the Negro must die in the trenches to 
make the world safe for a democracy in which he has as yet 
but an imperfect participation. 

No institution in the country is so obligated to labor 
for the impartial administration of democracy as is the 
Christian Church. It has no alternative. To do otherwise 
is to deny the right of the church to exist. To fail to meet 
every issue which such righteous administration raises is 
to admit that the teachings of Jesus Christ are based 
upon compromise. Theoretically, the altars of the church 
are open to all peoples and the blessings of religion are to be 
shared by all. This involves the application of the prin- 
ciples of Christian brotherhood to all people at all times. As 
a practical demonstration of its faith and teaching the 

119 



120 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

church is obliged to do this very thing. That it brings with 
it some hard propositions is admitted. But the church which 
offers to men salvation from sin, and fellowship with Jesus 
Christ, must lose itself in the fulfilling of its mission at this 
point if it is to save itself for the solution of the problems of 
later years. It must lose itself in this task if the nation is to 
be saved from a practical denial of the spiritual vision of 
democracy which it is holding up to the world. 

The church has not been unmindful of its obligation to 
the Negro in the United States. It has given him oppor- 
tunities to secure an education when the State was dilatory in 
providing it. Churches have been built for him and min- 
isters supported to teach him the way of life. In these two 
respects little fault can be found with the church. But the 
influence of the church has not been strong enough to pre- 
vent industrial discrimination against him. It has not al- 
tered political conditions which nullify the political priv- 
ileges given to him. Mob law has been permitted to execute 
him at the end of a rope or at a blazing stake unquestioned 
by the church. Cross-sections of our history reveal many 
instances in our national life where democracy for the Negro 
has been of the i i scrap-of-paper ' ' kind. For real democracy 
the American Negro will live and die. But he looks at the 
pseudo-democracy with that same failure to understand 
which prompted the little girl to say to her mother: 
"Mamma, why is it that when I'm bad you say I'm naughty, 
but when you 're bad, you say you 're nervous f ' ' Somewhere 
in our church statesmanship we have fallen short of the 
mark. Can we correct our error and yet prove our theory 
by our practice ? What already has been done challenges to 
an immediate response. 

The Negko a Pateiot 1 

Every live American rejoices in the valorous deeds of 
his ancestors. The scenes of battles long ago are kept fresh 

1 Pages 120 to 128 are taken from The Negro and the Flag, by Ralph 
Welles Keeler. 



THE CHURCH AND THE NEGRO 121 

in the minds of succeeding generations by the boast of lineal 
descent from heroes of other days. Men rejoice in paying 
tribute to the loyal band of colonists who, for the sake of 
liberty, mingled their blood with the land we love in defiance 
of a strong nation. It is a heritage proudly shared by thou- 
sands. Women guard with jealous care those credentials 
which open to them the doors of fellowship with other 
"daughters of the Revolution." It is in the blood. And 
around the fireside of a winter's night, children's children 
are inducted into the sacred knowledge of the part played by 
those whose blood courses through their own bodies. 

Nor is the Negro set aside in this revelry of forefathers ' 
fighting prowess. For his is a share in the soldiery memoirs 
of our nation from the beginning. The first Negro blood to 
flow was that of Crispus Attucks, a runaway slave, who led 
an attack of citizens on the British soldiers, March 5, 1770, 
in what is known to-day as the Boston Massacre. From 
Boston Commons to Carrizal the Negro has manifested the 
same bravery and loyalty by dying for the stars and stripes 
whenever opportunity has offered itself. His cheerful and 
conspicuous courage at the battle of New Orleans, in 1812, 
brought forth public commendation from General Andrew 
Jackson. And in that same war it was to Negro soldiers that 
the post of guarding the city of Washington from traitors 
at home and enemies within was given. 

A feature of the General Conference of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church of 1916 was the singing of the Claflin Uni- 
versity quartette. Their favorite song was "The Old Flag 
Never Touched the Ground." Its rendering revived the 
memory of the gallant 54th Massachusetts, a Negro regiment 
under Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. In a brave struggle in 
which nearly all the officers, including Colonel Shaw, were 
killed, a loyal sergeant seized the regiment's colors from a 
falling comrade and kept the flag aloft. When, mangled and 
bleeding, he was carried from the field, he lifted his voice 
with the exultant cry, "Boys, the old flag never touched the 
ground ! ' ' 



122 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

Once more black hands are holding up the colors. 
Through the smoke and flames of battle are seen the tense 
black faces of the Negro troops. The training camps are 
alive with the drawls of the plantation and the harsher tones 
of the northern cities. Mothers and wives and sweethearts 
are trying to adjust themselves "to the absence of their men. 
Little children look with wonder and ask questions. But the 
Negro himself has asked none. The nation said "Come." 
And once more he is answering the country's call to demon- 
strate that the spirit of heroism and sacrifice has developed 
since the blood of the white man and the blood of the black 
man first wet the soil of our land in the cause of liberty and 
justice. 

From field and factory and school alike they have come. 
The slow and the swift, the unlettered and the educated, 
the untrained and the gifted — each has come offering his all 
with which to keep the torch of American liberty ablaze. 
Some one hundred and eighty thousand of the best phys- 
ical types of Negro American manhood are in the army. 
One thousand of the choicest Negro men are among the 
commissioned officers who are leading them "over the top" 
out into "No Man's Land." Already they have recorded 
their valor in action at the front. 

None have hesitated. The university professor has set 
his frogs and testing tubes to gather dust or to be used by 
less able men than he. The college boy has swapped his bat 
and ball for a khaki suit and a Springfield rifle. The phy- 
sician who has ministered to the needs of the lowly homes in 
the countless rural communities of the South will now re- 
build the torn and shattered bodies of the heads of these 
households. 

Not only the loving devotion of the home folks and 
friends stamps these men as the sort that make an army 
strong. The government also has said that they count, for 
the secretary of war is "fully cognizant of and appreciates 
the loyalty and patriotism of the Negro. ' ' The appointment 
of Emmett Jay Scott as special assistant secretary of war is 



THE CHUECH AND THE NEGKO 123 

a further recognition of the use and value of the Negro's 
unqualified support in the Nation's crisis. 

Camp life is reemphasizing the fact that the Negro is 
preeminently a man of the hour. He lives much in the 
present. And his feelings are best expressed through song. 
Both the hours when the sky is cloudless and the tragic hours 
of life are reflected in the melody which fairly sways itself 
out into the air. In the time of the nation's need he brings 
with his physical endurance and strength of will that most 
blessed ministry of song. For already the Negro in khaki 
is known as the singing soldier. The singing soldier makes 
for cheerfulness, loyal fellowship, and esprit de corps. And 
singing soldiers are needed now. All the cheerfulness which 
they can render counts, for all too soon the minor chords 
will become vibrant, as "our man" is checked off in the 
casualty list cabled from overseas. 

Who are they all? Just folks, like yours and mine. 
Watch them pass by. They are off for a port of embarking. 
There is a Wiley College senior giving an order. In the 
first line marches a man who never was more than five miles 
away from the cotton plantation until a few weeks ago. 
Next to him is the porter who always helped us from the 
train at the Chicago station. Then come the owner of a 
store in New York, an editor from Texas, a carpenter from 
Georgia, a bricklayer from Tennessee. Still they come. 
Mothers' sons and husbands of wives. Men. Men of the 
kind that future poets will sing of as one has sung of the 
heroes of other days : 

"Plain, common men of every day, 
Who left their homes to march away, 
To perish on the battle plain, 
As common men will do again; 
To lift a ghastly, glazing eye 
Up to a lurid, stranger sky 
Until it sees a painted rag — 
The same old common spangled flag — 
And then to die, and testify 
To all the ages, far and nigh, 
How commonplace it is to die." 



124 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

Where Training Counts 

A soldier is more than a human body trained in military 
tactics and maneuvers. Otherwise our forces would fail at 
the crucial moment. "Our finest boys" is the expression 
heard repeatedly in describing them. Some process of 
preparation is recognized in addition to that of the camps 
and the practice trenches. The different attitudes men have 
taken to the drafting of our national army point this out. 
The careful selection of the officers indicates that there is a 
development of patriotism which has its place far away from 
the sharp giving of orders and the shuffling of marching feet. 

The swinging lines of khaki-clad Negro soldiers bring 
thoughts of days when the grandfathers and fathers of these 
men had no country of which they could sing "my country." 
The years of adjustment to independence and self-support, 
the rearing of families in homes of their own, the becoming 
property owners, have a story that they tell. And through it 
all is woven the romance of Christian education. 

Leading a race from bondage into useful citizenship is 
something that cannot be done overnight. It has taken long, 
weary months to teach Negro parents the proper care of the 
bodies of their children. It is no slight task to train a gen- 
eration so that the organs of the body function properly, and 
thereby resist disease. Muscles must be hard and elastic. 
For the physical courage of a man is often due to a feeling 
of dependence upon the human machine to do what he wills. 
The home contributes here to the making of the soldier. 

The Christian school has done more for Negro youth 
than has the home. Here the all-round man has been kept in 
mind. The body has been developed by athletics and hard 
work. Ideals for a home after schooldays are over have 
been inculcated. The mind has been stored with the knowl- 
edge of the ages and the scientific processes of to-day. The 
hand has been taught that cunning which demands a living 
wage as a well-equipped artisan. And the soul has been led 
into fellowship with God. 





A NEGRO NEIGHBORHOOD IN COLUMBUS, OHIO 



SUNDAY SCHOOL AT EAST CALVARY METHODIST EPISCOPAL 
CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA 



THE CHURCH AND THE NEGRO 125 

It is no small thing that in the schools supported by the 
Church of Jesus Christ the Negro lad learns the relation of 
the home to the community and the state. He comes to ap- 
preciate the reciprocal duties of himself and his government. 
As a man he recognizes that without his government, his 
home is in danger. With his home in danger his happiness is 
at stake. He also comprehends that the protection of other 
homes in his country is the part of an intelligent patriot. So 
he salutes the stars and stripes as a symbol of national 
brotherhood, a symbol of exalted sacrifice in order that 
homes may endure and children live in safety, a symbol of 
righteous living and justice for all ! He dons his khaki or 
suit of blue, stands at attention, and marches away with a 
full knowledge of what he is doing. 

Those who have thought slightingly of the training of 
the hand which is so well done in schools for Negroes are 
now rejoicing. The developing of intelligent patriotism is 
largely an intellectual process. But an added value is given 
to it when the big healthy soldier also knows how to use his 
hands. He may be courageous enough to face death in the 
trenches unflinchingly, but when a railroad must be built 
close up to the firing line, or a munition truck steered to the 
front, or a gun loaded rapidly and fired accurately, deftness 
and skill of hand are absolutely essential. 

The process of selecting officers for our new army has 
been a signal justification of the value of the training of the 
schools. A pan-collegiate gathering of large numbers might 
be held of a night in the officers ' quarters of any camp. The 
choice product of the schools for Negroes supported by the 
church and other philanthropy makes up the roll of officers 
for our Negro soldier units. Beyond the wisdom of men 
they have been trained for an undreamed-of day. Strong 
men they are, certain of themselves and mindful of the needs 
of their fellows under them in the ranks. They are men 
who are able to develop a morale that will send line after line 
1 ' over the top ' ' with a smile and a cheer. 

Uncertain and full of hardship was the path of those 



126 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

who in years past pioneered the making of a Negro army for 
to-day. They succeeded because they sought by the proc- 
esses of education to develop men and women of ideals, con- 
victions and faith in God. And the soldier who goes, and 
the home which he leaves behind, both bear silent testimony 
to the learning of the spirit of Him who quietly said: 
' ' Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his 
life for his friends." 

How the Methodist Episcopal Chukch Helps 

Methodism has had a large part in the training of the 
prepared Negro manhood and womanhood of to-day. Since 
1866 it has interested itself to the extent of over $10,000,000 
in Christian education among the Negroes. And to-day the 
Freedmen's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
has under its direction 21 schools, with 317 teachers and 
5,279 students. The property value of these schools, in- 
cluding real estate and equipment, is $2,007,750. It is a con- 
crete realization in 1918 of the fine idealism of the twelve 
wise men called Methodists of the days when four million 
ex-slaves were left stranded amid the mazes of a new life 
without knowing which of the many open roads to travel. 

In figures this statement means no more than a page 
from the toil of the weary statistician. But in life values it 
represents a great lump of the leaven which has been and 
now is transforming a host of keen-eyed black boys and girls 
into men of usefulness and women of noble character and 
uplifting influence. One names over the teachers who have 
counted social ostracism and the flings of their fellows as 
nothing so long as they might have a part in this process. 
Heroes whose names are left unsung were these men and 
women of culture who by losing their lives gave life to a mul- 
titude for a day like ours. They made possible the new type 
of Negro citizen, the home of refinement, the Christian ideals 
with which the two hundred thousand Negro young men and 
young women who have gone through Methodist schools are 
fortifying the future of their race. And the church — the 



THE CHURCH AND THE NEGRO 127 

stately cathedral in the teeming city, and the little ' ' one-cell " 
structure at the crossroads — stood back of them with the 
money needed to finance so great a task. 

How are the results attained? It is by the same process 
that all childhood and youth are led into the fields of learn- 
ing and service. That two and two are four and the earth is 
round like an orange is as great a discovery to a Negro lad 
as to a white boy of like age. The same wearisome hours are 
spent in learning "When Greece her knees in suppliance 
bent/' for the Friday afternoon "piece" speaking. " Arma 
virumque cano" brings forth as many ludicrous translations 
with him as anywhere. And the difficulties of getting Xeno- 
phon's Ten Thousand safely retreated are a common burden 
with the youth of all races. What joy, then, when a boy or 
girl attains! When the thinking processes begin to assert 
themselves and personal judgments develop! What satis- 
faction at that time that the Gospel of John has been studied 
along side of cube root and quadratics ; that the history of 
the Napoleonic wars has not shut out the joys of the leader- 
ship of Moses ! What happiness to those who teach that to- 
gether with conclusions in economics and psychology come 
decisions in religion ! How the heart of the church is made 
glad that these young men and women graduated laude, cum 
laade, or summa cum laude, are for the most part avowed 
disciples of Jesus Christ ! 

Education and Christian example give these results. 
These Methodist schools train the mind with wholesome 
knowledge ; they also train the hand for the common toil of 
every day. And the influence of noble teachers, men and 
women, makes Christ a reality day by day. Would not the 
heart of Abraham Lincoln rejoice at the new order of life 
being spread among this race? The nation is no stronger 
than its weakest elements. With every part strong it can 
make its ideals predominate in the earth. This giving of 
practical Christian education to the Negro is keeping the 
procession moving forward. 

The necessities of war have called many of the gradu- 



128 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

ates of our Freedmen's Aid Society schools and colleges. In 
a strange land scores of them are making the supreme sacri- 
fice for the ideals which they have been taught. The service 
flag has its star of blue draped in black in homes where 
length of days in joyous fellowship seemed certain. Has the 
effort been worth while ? The service now being rendered is 
the answer. Yale and Harvard and Wesleyan rejoice in the 
contribution of well-trained men that they are making to the 
nation's need. In just the same loyal way are Claflin, Me- 
harry, George R. Smith College, Wiley, the College of New 
Orleans, Clark University, and the rest glad beyond mea- 
sure that their boys are ready and that they can cheer them 
on their way. 

There shortly comes the future. Another generation 
must be ready. Even now the effort to train others for the 
work these might have done must be redoubled. The sky is 
ablaze with the cry, ' ' Prepare ! ' ' And the church which has 
through half a century led the way in Christian education 
for those whom Lincoln freed, now faces the opportunity to 
do in a way gigantic the task which with bravery and faith 
it pioneered in other days. 

Our Negro Heritage 

There is poetry in the distant and far away. Out in the 
jungle and in the villages of picturesque thatch-roofed mud 
huts of Africa the Negro lures our souls to sympathy and 
help. Our eyes fill with tears at the recital of the conditions 
which mark him as not yet acquainted with our Grod. An 
honest desire possesses us to do something that will better 
his condition and bring to him the saving love of Jesus 
Christ. We include him in our prayer, "Thy kingdom 
come." But our forefathers did not. They captured him in 
his native home and brought him here to be a part of our 
great national growth. As slave to the white man he took up 
this new walk in life. The merry pictures of his frolic hour 
in the cotton fields of yesterday spoil our perspective as we 
think of his new condition in those days. It was not our 



THE CHURCH AND THE NEGRO 129 

God that he came to know, but a God who made a distinction 
between peoples whose skin was of a different color. And 
the narrow conception and the life resulting from it could 
never participate in the song of him who sang, "Now are we 
the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall 
be. ' ' His mind had no training that would help him to seek 
out God. His heart was trained for service to those alone 
who owned him body and soul. 

There is no gainsaying the fact that the Negro is a 
factor in the future of our country's development. As is the 
case with every other race which enters into our heteroge- 
neous life, he is both an asset and liability. And as such he is 
an influence for evil or good in the life of every other indi- 
vidual. But the deciding whether he will be more liability or 
more asset is with those who know how to transform the 
former into the latter. And this task and the vision essential 
for the doing of the task are largely in the day's work of 
those who have claimed for themselves the blessings which 
come through personal faith in Jesus Christ. 

The liability side of our problem must be paid for over 
and over unless we change it. The longer it remains a lia- 
bility the more numerous the individual units which make it 
up, and hence the increasing magnitude of our task. The 
untaught, carefree field hand propagates his own kind, the 
while he remains more or less of an economic burden and 
one outside of the kingdom of God. The vicious corner 
loafer in our cities will never provide a better condition than 
his own for his children. The lack of knowledge prevents 
the enlivening vision of nobler things. Liability he is and 
liability he will remain so long as his mind is not fired with 
the stimulus of thinking and his hand trained to carry out 
the impulses of that thought. 

Each generation bequeaths to the next its achievements 
and its problems. Each generation accepts from the one just 
preceding it some problem which it must solve before an- 
other generation takes hold of affairs. It is in this way that 
progress has been made. But it cannot be done without great 



130 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

cost to each generation that accepts its heritage of problems 
as a heritage of opportunities as well. For the inspiration 
and enthusiasm which keep men and women at a task which 
is to render greater benefits to the future than to the years 
which they call contemporary come only when an oppor- 
tunity for benefiting the race is recognized. 

A MlNISTKY OF WOKSHIP 

In recognizing the opportunity bequeathed it in the 
presence of twelve million Negroes the church has made 
the education of Negro boys and girls its starting point. 
This has made possible the training of leaders. These 
leaders have developed a church life for their own people, 
aided by the larger resources of the church. The re- 
sult of this phase of the work of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church is seen in the fact that its membership now includes 
2,172 Negro preachers, who minister to 348,477 preparatory 
and full members in 3,688 church buildings. The total value 
of these Negro churches is $8,211,850 and the value of the 
1,345 parsonages occupied by Negro Methodist Episcopal 
ministers is $1,361,486. 

Figures always fail to interpret the larger value of the 
influence which their ministry represents. The Methodist 
Episcopal Church has influenced thousands, of people by its 
example of a great church helping a weak people. It has 
refused to forsake them. It has increased respect for 
weaker races. It has thus prophesied the very thing for 
which the nation now is fighting with iron determination to 
win. 

As for the Negroes themselves, the fostering care of a 
great church is greater than riches. One of their great 
preachers 1 in addressing a white audience said recently: 
"The Methodist Episcopal Church is to us the representa- 
tive of Jesus Christ our Lord. If you have among you a 
large percentage that belongs to other denominations, out of 



1 Rev. Charles A. Tindley. 



TABLE NO. I 

Statistics of the Negro Membership of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church for 1868 and 1918 

1868 1918 Increase 

Ministers 212 2,172 1,960 

Local Preachers 634 3,538 2,904 

Church Members and Probationers 63,567 348,477 284,910 

Sunday Schools 490 3,642 3,152 

Sunday School Scholars, Officers, and 

Teachers 27,557 234,647 207,090 

Churches 634 3,688 3,054 

Value of Churches $581,399 $8,211,850 $7,630,451 

Parsonages 13 1,345 1,332 

Value of Parsonages $4,850 $1,361,486 $1,358,636 

Ministerial Support 927,267 927,267 

Paid on Church Debts 195,547 195,547 

Paid on Buildings and Improvements 297,306 297,306 

Paid on Current Expenses 229,288 229,288 

Indebtedness on Property 935,500 935,500 

TABLE NO. II 

A Comparison of the Amounts Given to the General Church Boards by 

the Negro Membership of the Methodist Episcopal 

Church for 1868 and 1918 

1868 1918 Increase 
Foreign Missions, Home Missions and 

Church Extension $1,842 $39,517 $37,675 

Freedmen's Aid 75,000 75,000 

Sunday Schools 130 4,565 4,435 

Board of Education: 

(a) Public Education 1,909 1,909 

(b) Children's Day 3,736 3,736 

American Bible Society 66 1,891 1,825 

Board of Temperance, Prohibition, and 

Public Morals 1,464 1,464 

Deaconess Board 216 216 

Woman's Foreign Missionary Society . 1,017 1,017 

Woman's Home Missionary Society 10,994 10,994 

City Missionary and Church Extension 

Society 1,431 1,431 

Totals $2,038 $141,740 $139,702 

TABLE NO. Ill 

What the Methodist Episcopal Church is Giving Through Its Boards 

for the Help of the Negro, and What Proportion of 

That Help the Negro Furnishes Himself. The 

Following are the Figures for 1916-17 

Amt. Raised 
Board Amount by Colored 

Appropriated People 

Foreign Missions $11,519 44 $20,165 00 

Home Missions and Church Extension 61,480 40 19,478 40 

Freedmen's Aid 132,203 00 17,259 36 

►Woman's Home Missions 60,819 00 7,651 32 

Board of Education 5,960 00 3,298 00 

Board of Conference Claimants 4,200 00 3,700 00 

Board of Sunday Schools 3,935 17 4,637 00 

Board of Temperance, Prohibition, and Public 

Morals 2,280 00 1,703 00 

Total $282,397 01 $77,892 08 



SOME FIGURES THAT TALK 



132 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

every three persons among us, we can show you one who is a 
Methodist. We can see the way to God most clearly by the 
way of the Methodist lead; we can hear the Lord's words 
better through Methodist ears than through other ears. We 
can see the gates of glory through Methodist eyes better than 
in any other way." Whether they live on the cotton or 
sugar plantations or are farmers in their own right, the 
Negroes love the church. Whether in the crowded city or in. 
the rural hamlet, it is the same. And it is in this fact that 
the challenge to the church becomes an opportunity for 
Christian democracy beyond comparison. Thrift must be 
taught. Moral ideals must be lifted up. Responsibility 
must be made a habit. The support of their own institutions 
must be encouraged. The desire for education must be more 
generally created. The larger outlook must be given. And 
in so doing the Church of Jesus Christ has the opportunity 
of demonstrating in a large way its practical ministry to the 
very last need of every individual, man, woman, and child. 

The response to an appeal to the many-sided interests of 
the Negro's life is seen in the results of a small investment 
by the Board of Home Missions and Church Extension of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church in work being done by a Negro 
district superintendent, one of the leaders in the develop- 
ment of the rural Negro communities of the South, in the 
following quotation from his report for the Brookhaven Dis- 
trict of the Mississippi Conference at the Annual Confer- 
ence: 

"In addition to food conservation, the leader in demon- 
stration work gave special attention to increased production, 
working together, and health preservation. His report 
showed that he traveled 220 miles, visited 12 churches, or- 
ganized 15 clubs, as follows : 3 tomato, 3 potato, 4 corn, 4 
poultry, 1 industrial and economic. For this work he was 
paid $25 a month, traveling expenses being paid by those 
whom he served. The leader in charge of women's club 
work was to give public demonstration of food conservation. 
Her report showed that she traveled 263 miles by rail and 



THE CHURCH AND THE NEGRO 133 

73 by team ; worked two months, gave public demonstrations, 
reached 1,400 housewives and canned personally 2,488 
pounds of food. For this work she received $25 a month. 
Her board and traveling expenses were provided by the com- 
munities in which she labored. As a result of this coopera- 
tion and of other activities on the part of the district super- 
intendent, over 8,000 pounds of meat and 50,000 pounds of 
canned goods were saved. Five hundred and fifty-five boys 
were enrolled in corn and other clubs and 263 girls in tomato- 
canning and poultry clubs. Rural reading clubs were organ- 
ized and plans made for the purchase of forty acres of land 
to be used as a district headquarters and as a place for a 
retired minister's home. On this land will be carried on 
agricultural demonstration activities and will be located the 
rural folk high school for colored people." 

More Trained Leaders Needed 

There is an increasing demand for trained Negro lead- 
ers for guiding their people into this sort of appreciation of 
cooperation with every form of life. That the number is 
increasing is encouraging. The material is there, as is evi- 
denced by the lawyers, preachers, editors, inventors, teach- 
ers, and poets whom the race has already produced. James 
Wei don Johnson, a Negro poet of no mean power, puts it 
well in his "O Black and Unknown Bard" when he sings: 

"Heart of what slave poured out such melody 

As 'Steal away to Jesus' ? Oil its strains 
His spirit must have nightly floated free 

Though still about his hands he felt his chains. 
Who heard great 'Jordan Roll'? Whose starward eye 
Saw chariot 'Swing low'? And who was he 
That breathed that comforting, melodic sigh, 

'Nobody knows de trouble I see'? 

"What merely living clod, what captive thing, 

Could up toward God through all its darkness grope, 
And find within its deadened heart to sing 

These songs of sorrow, love and faith, and hope? 



134 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

How did it catch that subtle undertone, 

That note in music heard not with the ears? 

How sound the elusive reed so seldom blown, 

Which stirs the soul or melts the hearts to tears?" 

The Exodus North 

The five hundred thousand Negroes from the South who 
have invaded the Northern States did not come with the song 
"I Wish I were in the Land of Cotton" upon their lips. 
They swarmed north by the trainload with the hope that "up 
North" they would find some new El Dorado, where every- 
thing for which they had hoped or dreamed would be theirs. 
Unguided by any wise and sane leadership, but coming be- 
cause the crowd was on the way, these men and women and 
children are providing by their presence a challenge to the 
Christianity of the Northern States that is marked "An- 
swer some way or other ! ' ' Unaccustomed to the ways of the 
North, these Negroes came as strangers and are finding the 
Northern cities a far different place than what they had sup- 
posed. The resulting overcrowding of the Negro sections of 
the cities has put the situation out of the argumentative class 
into a practical relationship to the life of the whole com- 
munity, and now there arises the great question which must 
be answered by every one who has taken the name of a 
follower of the Lord Jesus Christ upon his lips. The ques- 
tion is not only "What are we going to do with them?" but 
also "What are we going to do for them? How may we best 
serve one of the most pressing needs of the present time?" 

There is no wise man arising who can say offhand we 
will do thus and so. Rather it is a problem for every citizen 
of every community to think over deeply, to ask wisely con- 
cerning and to give of his time, thought and money toward 
a solution that will, in some way, fit these people for the new 
life which they find round about them, help them to accustom 
themselves to the ways which they must meet in the North, 
and finally to find some plan for providing housing, enter- 
tainment and church provision for every one of them. It is 



THE CHURCH AND THE NEGRO 135 

no problem to be disposed of around the stove in the village 
grocery. Rather it is a question for Christian statesmen, 
citizens and all who have at heart the best interests of our 
city life. To this task must be given long and thoughtful 
attention. 

The problem as seen from the viewpoint of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church is twofold. First, to somehow con- 
serve the work already done in the South where the migra- 
tion is leaving. In many instances literally whole communi- 
ties and parishes are depopulated. Second, to provide re- 
ligious opportunities for those people who have come from 
our own churches of the South as well as those as yet un- 
reached by church influences — so that at the beginning of 
their new life in the North they may all have the influence of 
the Church of Jesus Christ to shape and mold their future. 
In both of these phases of the problem finance is involved in 
a very large way. 

The way folks are housed lifts up or drags down any 
community. When landlords rent disreputable, unsanitary, 
vile shacks for a high price, to so many Negroes that they 
herd together until the sides nearly bulge out, the sociol- 
ogist has a fact to work on. When a dozen men and women 
eat and sleep together in a single room, without proper light, 
ventilation or sanitation, the moralist has a fact to which 
to pin his thinking. And when these men by the thousands 
are squandering their wages on liquor and lewd women, and 
when the young girls are being met at the railroad stations 
and taken away by city-bred Negroes who "know the town," 
there is surely sufficient scientific data for the Church of 
Jesus Christ to rouse itself and do something of a construc- 
tive character at once. 

Prove all this ? In Detroit a one-story-and-a-half shack 
with four rooms on the first floor and one room or attic above 
was "remodeled" camp-meeting style into a four- and a five- 
room apartment on the first floor, the front apartment rent- 
ing for $35.00 a month, and two apartments upstairs. A few 
doors away a family pays $16.00 a month for a single un- 



136 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

furnished room without even running water. And every one 
of these rooms is so crowded with Negroes that one almost 
has to go out into the backyard to turn around. 

In Newark, New Jersey, an investigation was made by 
trained workers of 120 self-supporting families, living in the 
worst section of the city. A close study of 53 of these fam- 
ilies reveals that 166 adults — only 20 of whom were over 40 
years of age — and 134 children, a total of 300 souls, are all 
crowded into unsanitary, dark quarters, averaging four and 
two-seventh persons to a room. 

To be "all dressed up and no place to go" is a sad state 
for any one to be in. But for a Southern Negro unused to 
Northern ways to be in this predicament and at the same 
time to have more money in his pockets than he ever had be- 
fore, is a dangerous situation. For to him are closed so many 
reputable places where he might make merry for the even- 
ing in an innocent way. But wide open are the pool rooms, 
the saloons make special provision for him, and the houses 
of ill-fame, which know "no color, race, or creed," entreat 
him within their shameless walls. Small chance of wife or 
mother left down South getting any of his wages. Not even 
his manhood will be left when they see him again. 

And the girls — what chance has any unsophisticated 
country girl coming to a big city without friends or others 
to shield her until she gets her bearings 1 It is easy to slip 
by the friendly woman who watches at the railroad station 
to befriend such as she. And why not have a lark with the 
charming "George," with his fine clothes and gentlemanly 
ways ? Why not % She is going to have a hard enough time 
after she gets to work. At any rate she has the lark. So 
do hundreds of her sisters. And the hospitals and society at 
large, as well as she herself, will have to bear the burden of 
her folly. 

Southern Negroes have been coming into our Northern 
cities in such numbers as to force a rearrangement of life 
in many of them. Chicago has 75,000 ; Pittsburgh has 10,- 
000; Saint Louis, Missouri, 1,000; East Saint Louis, Illinois, 



THE CHURCH AND THE NEGEO 137 

6,000; Detroit, 25,000; Philadelphia and vicinity, 40,000; 
and other cities proportionately. It is a permanent change 
of residence for 90 per cent of these folks, 75 per cent of 
whom are males and 65 per cent of whom are under fifty 
years of age. 

The church cannot remain inactive in relation to this 
phase of its relationship to the Negro. It must act, and act 
promptly. 

Shall Christian Democracy Prevail? 

The Methodist Episcopal Church, through its General 
Conference of 1864, stated that "justice to those who have 
been enslaved requires that in all the privileges of citizen- 
ship, as well as in all other rights of a common manhood, 
there shall be no distinction founded upon color. ' ' The pur- 
pose of the church has been to help the Negro to become pre- 
pared for full participation in Christian democracy and then 
to see that he has it. In these days of the shedding of inno- 
cent blood for the ideal of democracy, or the rights of the 
people irrespective of color or creed, the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church must renew her grip upon her claim of being 
preeminently the church of the people. In making "the 
world safe for democracy, " and "democracy safe for the 
world," which in the first place precipitates the greatest 
struggle of the ages, and in the second place, makes neces- 
sary the greatest effort Methodism has ever made, may not 
the heroism and the sacrifice in the trenches of so many of 
Methodism's black sons make easier the attainment of all 
that the church would have for its Negro members ? This is 
the question many are asking. With what response shall the 
church make answer? Will it declare that the utterance of 
the fathers included democracy in church affairs as well as 
in affairs of state? Who can answer? The celebration of 
the Centenary of Methodist Missions centers around the 
labors of John Stewart, a Negro, the first missionary to the 
Wyandotte Indians. Into what broader paths of oppor- 
tunity will the Centenary lead the successors of this black 



138 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

man? Christian democracy within the walls of the Chris- 
tian Church meets a question which must be answered 
frankly at this point. 

Through its Board of Home Missions and Church Ex- 
tension the Methodist Episcopal Church appropriated $50,- 
032.85 for the support of ministers and the erection of church 
buildings for Negroes in 1918. Now she must do some- 
thing to break the long record of 3,200 lynchings which the 
last thirty-five years charge up against our Christian 
democracy. The barriers which prevent the Negro from 
participating in the industrial opportunities of the land must 
be battered down. He must be permitted to live in houses 
which are fit to live in. Provision must be made for whole- 
some social life for him. The Negro is not a subjective thesis 
for the purpose of discussion. He is an objective reality. 
He is a part of the life of every communit}^. That he must 
be a party to the securing of the things which he needs is 
granted. But it must be remembered that the other party to 
the problem must see to it that he has a fair chance to do 
this very thing. We must give serious heed to the words of 
Benjamin Brawley, who says i 1 

' ' We feel that the United States cannot long remain in 
the dilemma of fighting for democracy while at the same time 
she denies the fundamental principles of democracy at home. 
We cannot much longer pluck the mote from our brother's 
eye unmindful at the same time of the beam in our own. 
Meanwhile, however, the Negro goes quietly about his work. 
He has picked corn and pulled fodder, scrubbed floors and 
washed windows, fired engines and dipped turpentine. He 
is not quite content, however, to be simply the doormat to 
American civilization. Twelve million people are ceasing to 
accept slander and insult without a protest. They have 
heard about freedom, justice, and happiness, though these 
things seemed not for them. They cannot quite see the con- 
sistency of fighting for outraged Belgians or Armenians so 
long as the rights of citizens at home are violated. In the 

1 Your Negro Neighbor, by Benjamin Brawley (Macmillan). 



THE CHURCH AND THE NEGBO 139 

words of Foraker, 'They ask no favors because they are 
Negroes, but only justice because they are men. ' " 

Has the Methodist Episcopal Church an answer that is 
demonstrable to the implications of what this man puts so 
bluntly? 

Questions for Discussion 

1. In what way has full participation in Christian 
democracy been withheld from the Negro ? 

2. What is the obligation of the Christian Church in 
this matter ? 

3. Discuss the Negro as a patriot. How has the train- 
ing given by the church helped to make him a useful soldier 
and officer ? 

4. In what way has the Methodist Episcopal Church 
helped in the Christian education of the Negro ? 

5. Just what are the implications of the Negro herit- 
age of the Methodist Episcopal Church? 

6. Discuss the statistics of the Negro membership of 
our church. 

7. Why are more trained Negro leaders for Negroes 
needed? What are the possibilities of securing them? 

8. What new problems has the exodus of hundreds of 
thousands of Negroes to Northern cities brought with it? 

9. Why is the providing of proper housing for Negroes 
an obligation of the church ? 

10. What has been the stand taken by the Methodist 
Episcopal Church with reference to the Negro's rights to 
citizenship ? 

11. To what extent have the principles of Christian 
democracy been applied to the Negro in the church ? 

12. How far are the implications of Benjamin Brawley 
correct? What are we going to do about it? 



Persons are of more value than institutions, but institutions are 
one great means of developing persons; in fact, persons are constantly 
being shaped by institutions, either for good or ill. A good environ- 
ment does not necessarily mean a good character, but one of the indis- 
pensable resources for making a good character is to provide a favorable 
environment. — Eugene W. Lyman, in The God of the New Age. 

The story of church extension is written not only in thousands of 
structures, which, in all parts of our land, point the thought of man 
from earth heavenward, but in tens of thousands of homes and redeemed 
souls who have found their way into the kingdom of God at the altars 
of the Methodist Episcopal churches which in the past forty years have 
been created by the aid of the Board of Church Extension. — Alpha G. 
Kynett, in The Story of Church Extension. 

Mother Earth has made liberal contributions toward the sod 
churches of Methodism. And the sod churches of Methodism have made 
large contributions to the leadership of the church. But because the 
wheelbarrow made a first-class vehicle for the delivering of merchandise 
from the general store to the doors of our grandmothers, it does not 
weigh as an argument to the modern department store to forego the help- 
fulness of auto delivery, express and parcel post. The Church of Jesus 
Christ must be housed in accordance with the times in which it is min- 
istering. Especially is this true when people are building better homes 
for themselves. Even David of old had a few remarks to make upon this 
subject. Many of the churches built in the yesterdays must be replaced 
to-day with modern structures adapted to the needs of the changed com- 
munity. Communities in the dry-farming sections are being built in 
modern style from the very start. When a new community builds a 
$100,000 schoolhouse, shall the church put up an ancient horseshed plus 
a door? — Whitford L. McDowell, in The Builders. 



CHAPTER VI 
CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY POWER PLANTS 

The House of Vision and Ideals 

Christian democracy is not a force that develops un- 
aided. Based on ideas and ideals that are fundamental to 
the best human relationships, it needs power plants from 
which its spirit may be sent forth in the lives of individ- 
uals. This great service in the nation's trend toward life's 
finest and best is rendered for the most part by the Christian 
Church. Its impetus is in the thought and lives of the hun- 
dreds of thousands of followers of Jesus Christ throughout 
the land. Its local power plant is the building which we 
designate as the church, for here are taught the principles 
which react in human living. Here are sent forth the in- 
spiration and enthusiasm that make the life accord with the 
teaching. To this place come the people, worn with the at- 
tempt to practice Christian democracy, for fresh encour- 
agement and help to continue in accordance with the vision. 
The hopes and aspirations of the people are here shaped in 
harmony with the purpose of Him who came to establish a 
Kingdom which should be democratic beyond any dream 
which the race has yet seen come true. In nearly every com- 
munity of the land stands the church — a building merely to 
those who know not its power. To those who know, how- 
ever, these structures of sod or wood or stone or brick are 
the dwellings wherein for generations men and women have 
been learning how to exemplify those ideals which have 
made the United States the great nation it now is. 

Were it not for the local church with its definite plant 
there would be no stability to the development of America's 
greatest asset. Ideals would vary and shift. Vision would 

143 



144 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

grow dim and disappear. Each new generation would re- 
peat the mistakes of their fathers. The voice of the prophet 
would be stilled. Little children would grow up with an 
Americanism which lacked trust in God. The human service 
rendered through the spirit of Jesus Christ would cease. 
Economic and social problems, instead of pushing on toward 
a day of solution, would multiply, become more complex and 
vainly seek answer. The ways of newcomers from other 
shores would fasten themselves on the community. The 
very things which our fathers sailed over stormy seas to 
secure would disappear. With so many of the nations of 
the earth we would be standing at the crossroads anxiously 
asking the way. As it is, however, from thousands of pul- 
pits there sounds forth a message of comfort and direction. 
In thousands of Sunday schools the flag of the cross is inter- 
twined with the stars and stripes. America the beautiful is 
such because at all hours of the day the standards of the 
Christ are mingled with the aims of the nation. Because the 
church stands at the corner of the highway we know that 
our national ideals will live in practice. 

Power Plants that Work 

The Christian leaders who decided that a community 
ought to have a church building whether the people could 
afford it or not were wiser than they knew. When they set 
forth to collect money in one community for the purpose of 
building a church in another community they began a service 
to the nation whose influence can never be computed. Not 
only must the rejoicing of the circuit rider who was thus 
able to house his flock be taken into the reckoning. Account 
must also be taken of the men and women who know what 
Christian democracy is because of this work — communities 
of law-abiding people instead of the wild disorder of the 
frontier, relationships of helpfulness instead of the desper- 
ate effort for self alone, a community consciousness based on 
the ideal of each for all and all for each. Across the country 
from coast to coast these power plants have been established, 



CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY POWER PLANTS 145 

and to-day they are rendering service according to the 
peculiar demands of their community as far as their limited 
equipment will permit. 

Chukch Extension in the Methodist Episcopal Church 

Technically this planting of churches in community 
after community is called "church extension.' ' It is at the 
heart of all Home Mission endeavor. In the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church it started in a small way in Iowa. The expan- 
sion of the West and the inability of the settlers to provide 
at once homes and churches without outside assistance came 
as a challenge to Iowa Methodists. Dr. Alpha Jefferson 
Kynett organized a local Church Extension Society at 
Dubuque, Iowa, in 1856. With his fellow ministers he was 
instrumental in collecting money and helping many a fron- 
tier preacher to erect a house of God. "After traveling two 
thousand miles to pitch a gospel tent it meant something to 
have aid in building a church. ' ' 

It was not until the session of the General Conference of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church which met in Philadelphia 
in 1864, that a church-wide organization was adopted. From 
that time until 1907, the Church Extension Society of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, which became the Board of 
Church Extension in 1873, conducted its great work as one 
of the general boards of the church. In 1907, when the work 
of the Methodist Missionary Society was divided, the home 
mission activities were merged with the Board of Church 
Extension under the corporate name of the Board of Home 
Missions and Church Extension of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, with headquarters in Philadelphia, where the 
Church Extension office had been from its beginning. With 
the reorganization of the Board of Home Missions and 
Church Extension by the General Conference of 1916, 
Church Extension was organized as a department with a 
superintendent in charge. 

What a story is the work of the Church Extension So- 
ciety and the Board of Church Extension! For forty-one 



146 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

years they labored before the work was merged with another 
organization. In terms of money alone its treasury received 
and distributed $9,067,763.68. In terms of communities 
helped in some form of church erection we find 15,000 
churches aided either by gift or loan. Where are they 
located? Three thousand of them are among the colored 
people; 1,800 are among the white constituency of the 
South; 7,000 of them will be found beyond the Mississippi 
River. The remainder? In every nook and corner of the 
land. 

These figures can be repeated in a short space of time. 
But they cover years of progress in extending the Kingdom. 
They recall the days of the pioneer preacher and the sod 
churches which the people put up for a place of worship. 
And even a sod church causes God to become more than an 
abstract proposition in a worshipless community. Memories 
of other days sweep in at full tide. The teachings of child- 
hood revive. The hopes long buried in the refuse pile of sin 
seem almost to take new life. For a church in the community 
is considered a good thing even by those who would hardly 
know what to do once inside the building. The church to 
most folks suggests and symbolizes God. And somewhere, 
somehow, the lone traveler along the pathway of his own. 
desires expects to meet God and talk things over. 

Bankers for the Kingdom 

It is the church at large which provides the money used 
to help build Methodist Episcopal churches in needy com- 
munities. Practicing the principle of Christian faith that 
the strong should help the weak, each congregation in the 
connection gives an offering for the purpose annually. The 
offering is given for home missions and church extension, 
and the proportion to be used for each purpose is decided by 
the Board at its annual meeting. Following this general 
division of the total funds received for the year the amount 
for church extension is again apportioned among the An- 
nual and Mission Conferences and Missions. But a Confer- 



CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY POWER PLANTS 147 

ence may not use the amount placed to its credit independ- 
ently and indiscriminately. A regular form of proceeding is 
required. All of the precautions that a bank would take in 
distributing money are taken by the Department of Church 
Extension in the performance of its task of helpfulness. 

The Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church at Verers- 
burg, Washington, recently wanted a donation of $500. If 
there was $500 standing to the credit of the Pacific Swedish 
Mission Conference, the local church must fill out an applica- 
tion blank giving a full statement as to the imperativeness of 
the aid. The Board of Trustees, the pastor, and the district 
superintendent must all indorse the application. This done, 
the application goes to the Pacific Swedish Mission Confer- 
ence Board of Home Missions and Church Extension for its 
approval. This Conference Board is composed of ministers 
and laymen with the district superintendents as ex-officio 
members. After approval by the Conference Board the ap- 
plication now goes to the Department of Church Extension 
at Philadelphia, where the facts in the case are carefully 
canvassed. This committee decides whether the application 
shall be presented to the Executive Committee of the Board 
with recommendation to grant or not to grant. When the 
recommendation is favorable, and the Executive Committee, 
which meets monthly, votes the appropriation asked for, 
the amount is deducted from the Conference credit and after 
certain formalities are conformed with a check for the 
amount granted sent to the local church. Before this pay- 
ment can be made the local Board of Trustees are required 
to sign a Trustees' Statement and Pledge. This document 
shows the progress of the building being constructed or 
remodeled and the actual condition of the enterprise at the 
date of the donation. It is also a pledge from the trustees 
to finish the structure free from debt by a certain date. 
There is also required, for donations of $250 or more, a trust 
bond and mortgage covering the amount of the donation 
for the purpose of protecting the church at large. This pro- 
tection comes when the property is alienated from Meth- 



148 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

odism, the corporate existence of the church ceases, or the 
property is sold. In any of these emergencies the amount 
of the mortgage with interest must be returned to the De- 
partment of Church Extension. When this occurs the 
amount of the original donation is again placed to the credit 
of the Conference within whose boundaries the defunct 
church is located. The First Swedish Methodist Episcopal 
Church, Bridgeport, Connecticut, received a donation of 
$500 in 1917, which was originally granted twenty years 
before and returned again to the Board when the property 
was sold in 1915. 

By adhering strictly to this process there can be no 
favoritism shown particular churches or sections of the 
country, and the trusteeship of the Board of Home Mis- 
sions and Church Extension meets the fullest requirements 
of the business world in the handling of its trust. 

Money to Lend 

Not every church desires a gift when under the financial 
pressure resulting from its building enterprise. A loan suffi- 
cient to carry the burden for a brief period is sufficient. It 
is with churches as it often is with individuals. To meet 
such necessities the Loan Fund stands ready. This Loan 
Fund, which now amounts to $1,800,000, has been built up by 
personal gifts, legacies, and annuities. 

The first movement for a loan fund was worked out in 
1856 by Methodists of the Upper Iowa Conference. They 
first collected $4,725. The plan was to loan churches money 
for building purposes at a very low rate of interest. In 
1870 the Loan Fund was transferred to the parent board 
to be used in the Upper Iowa Conference. In 1873 the Loan 
Fund for the entire church was proposed and adopted by 
General Conference. An annuity feature was added in 1870. 
Not a dollar of this Loan Fund can ever be used for dona- 
tions to churches, and loans are made only on what the 
Board considers adequate security. What constitutes ade- 
quate security has been determined as a result of forty 



CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY POWER PLANTS 149 

years' experience in lending money to local churches. And 
with the best of security a single church may not borrow over 
$5,000, except under special conditions. 

The legal statement which must accompany an appli- 
cation for aid from the Loan Fund is of such character that 
a competent attorney should fill it out. In order to secure 
the loan desired" it is necessary for the church to give a first 
mortgage for the amount received and the trustees to give a 
bond personally as well as officially for the prompt payment 
of the principal and interest at five per cent. The interest 
must be paid semi-annually and the principal in equal annual 
installments. In addition to this the loan must be the last 
money to pay all indebtedness on a complete enterprise. 
The purpose of the Loan Fund is thus seen to be church 
extension and not merely church relief. The bald statement 
of the process is lacking in color. But in the local com- 
munities where such help has been given is the material for 
romance and adventure beyond the interest of a "best 
seller. ' ' 

The Romance of Church Extension 

Underneath the purely business side of the transactions 
described is the human story. In Las Vegas, New Mexico, 
is the only Methodist Episcopal church within two hundred 
miles. It received a donation of $1,000 from church exten- 
sion funds in 1909. A gift of $500 prevented the sale of the 
church in 1909. It received another donation of $1,000 in 
1912. And now in 1918 it requests another donation of $240. 
Was this last request granted? It was. This Methodist 
Episcopal society of seventy-one members and a Sunday 
school of one hundred and forty-one wanted the money to 
build an addition to the church. They needed a place for 
Sunday school purposes, Epworth League, and social activ- 
ities, including a kitchen for the Ladies' Aid Society. The 
addition to the original structure netted only a room eighteen 
by thirty-two feet. But what an addition to the better life of 
the community ! What an advance for Christian democracy ! 



150 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

There was only one other kind of place for the young men 
of the town to go besides the saloon, and that kind was the 
houses of disrepute, one of which harbored seventy-five girls. 
The railroad gave three lots to the church people there. 
The people themselves have given to their limit. And, 
finally, the Methodist Episcopal Church, which boasts a con- 
nectionalism without equal, comes forward through the 
church extension end of its ministry and assures the good 
people of Las Vegas that it is concerned in the sort of op- 
portunity for proper development given to the young men 
and young women of their community. 

What a story one could tell of staying the hammer of 
the auctioneer as he was about to say "Gone!" over the 
property of the Maryland Avenue Methodist Episcopal 
Church, Annapolis, Maryland! That these enthusiastic 
Maryland Methodists builded beyond their means is not the 
point. They had established a church in their community. 
To have it sold at auction would not discredit them alone, but 
also the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Kingdom at 
large. So the church extension agency of Methodism 
stepped in and, with the cooperation awakened in the Balti- 
more Conference, was able to hold $6,000 in its hand and 
say, "Auctioneer, spare that church!" To-day this church 
is doing business for the kingdom of God in the capital of 
Maryland instead of being listed among the church failures 
of the land. 

Tennessee would also rise to be recognized. One half of 
the 170,000 inhabitants of Memphis are Negroes. The 
Methodists among them have worshiped in a half -built struc- 
ture, through which blow the soft spring breezes and the 
icy winter blasts alike. The Department of Church Exten- 
sion has come to the rescue, and before many years these 
faithful folks will have an adequate house of worship, paid 
for and protected, their own for all time. 

Along every trail made famous by pioneer pathfinder 
may be found the evidence of this beneficent ministry. In 
every city crowds pass daily some church whose life is now a 



CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY POWER PLANTS 151 

part of the very heart of the community because of this sort 
of help rendered in time of need. It may be a Chinese Meth- 
odist Episcopal church in Oakland, California, whose en- 
larged plant makes it possible to reach a more numerous 
constituency. It may be an Italian Methodist Episcopal 
church in Newcastle, Pennsylvania, which is able to do more 
for the children of its parish. There is no boundary line 
save that of need which decides what sort of a church shall 
have help. Without this help some of these churches would 
now be closed. With the help rendered they are continuing 
to function as power plants for Christian democracy. The 
races of the earth are passing through their doors. The 
childhood of the nation is being shaped in their Sunday 
schools. The youth of the land are catching the vision of a 
kingdom of God on earth. Manhood and womanhood are 
receiving the guidance necessary for making home an insti- 
tution that cooperates with the state and the church. Every 
phase of life is touched at its most vital point. The hope of 
the world is finding justification. The dawn of the day when 
Christ shall reign is becoming more assured. 

The Memoeial Chuech 

WTiere did the John Holland Methodist Episcopal 
Church get its name I That is the question asked about the 
church in many communities. Back of the answer to the 
query lies one of the choice ministries in the name of a loved 
one gone before. Scattered over the country are churches 
which have been built in memory of some one, whose name 
and ministry thus come into a community which they have 
never seen. What an opportunity for extending the influ- 
ence of some one well-beloved this method provides ! Each 
time the church bell rings its invitation to worship the name 
of the loved one is mingled with the thought of God. When 
it tolls the solemn announcement that another traveler has 
departed for the land beyond, the thought that those who 
made possible the church have not only lost a loved one but 



152 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

have also found help and comfort in God comes as a benedic- 
tion to sorrowing hearts. 

Such a memorial immediately permeates the daily life of 
the people of the community. It gradually becomes the 
center of their interests. Its teachings become the standard 
by which every human relationship is tested. The political 
doctrines and actions of the people are modified by its songs 
and prayers. As an exponent of the fundamental principles 
of Christian democracy it comes to have first place. The 
altars of such a church are wet with penitential tears. Its 
walls resound with the songs of the redeemed. The broken 
body and the blood of the Saviour are given symbolically in 
his name to countless numbers conscious of his mercy. The 
assurance of the risen Lord, "I am the resurrection and ihe 
life, ' ? falls with healing comfort on the head bowed with 
grief as the last farewells of earth are spoken. The deepest 
life-experiences of unnumbered people become intermingled 
with a memorial of this kind. 

The cost of naming a memorial church is small com- 
pared to the returns on the investment. Where $250 are 
given, the local people must raise enough to erect a $2,000 
building. For $350 a $3,000 church must be built. For $500 
enough must be provided locally to complete a $4,000 struc- 
ture. And what a stimulus to the local Methodists in raising 
this money ! It creates interest and encourages to sacrifice, 
impossible without help from outside. Already nine hun- 
dred of these memorial Methodist Episcopal churches have 
been built. From coast to coast they are ministering daily 
in memory of some nine hundred mothers, sons, wives, hus- 
bands, fathers, daughters, and friends. Nine hundred homes 
are gladdened by the practical expression of their love for 
the one who is gone. Nine hundred communities are debtors 
for a knowledge of Jesus Christ to one whom they know only 
in name. These churches would make three Methodist Epis- 
copal Annual Conferences if conveniently located. And the 
end is not yet. The need of this form of ministry is still with 
us. A study of a limited territory west of the Mississippi 



CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY POWER PLANTS 153 

River discloses twelve hundred communities of one thousand 
people or more without a single church. For hundreds of 
square miles in the State of Oregon no church building is to 
be seen. The schoolhouse is the accepted place for worship- 
ing God in the State of Wyoming, while in West Virginia 
there are over sixty Methodist Episcopal societies without a 
church building. 

A Page from the Records 

The rapid developments mentioned in connection with 
the frontier increase the demand for this sort of church ex- 
tension. About nine years ago the country around Utica, 
Montana, began to be settled with dry-land farms. Utica 
was an old substation and trading point for the stock men 
who used the surrounding country for grazing. The old- 
time log building with rough fare for the traveler still held 
its place. The nearby saloon offered the customary social 
attractions. On the bench outside loafers sunned them- 
selves. Here cowboys came to get drunk and hold shooting 
contests. The Methodist circuit rider established a preach- 
ing point at the Bench some distance away. Four years later 
Denton, four miles from the Bench, began to develop. And 
here came another opportunity for a memorial church. 

The district superintendent and the Sunday school mis- 
sionary of the Board of Sunday Schools of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church held the first Christian service in Denton 
in the new blacksmith shop, then in process of construction. 
The farmers all brought their dinners. Seats were provided 
from boxes, nail kegs, planks, and spring wagon seats. An 
old ladder served as an altar where the people knelt to re- 
ceive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The next place 
of worship was the dance hall. Here, following a moving 
picture show, were held the rough-and-tumble and the "se- 
lect ' ' dances of the community. But on Sunday, the atmos- 
phere of the night before swept away by a thorough clean- 
ing and airing, the songs of faith in a living Christ took the 
place of the strains of uncertain music and the shuffling of 



154 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

feet. The pastor, a young man just out of college, paid fif- 
teen dollars a month for his " parsonage.' ' It was a small 
twelve-by-sixteen, three-room shack. So poorly was it built 
that he was obliged to wear overshoes in the house to keep 
his feet warm in the winter time. 

Now Denton is alive with thrifty business men. It is 
surrounded by fine dry-land farms. At times as many as 
one hundred and fourteen teams will be lined up, waiting 
their turn to unload wheat at the five big grain elevators. 
Three years ago another young college man became the 
Methodist preacher. The Board of Home Missions and 
Church Extension helped- on his salary. The first year they 
gave $250, the second year $100. The third year the church 
was self-supporting. And then came the Memorial Church. 
With a gift of $250 the Phoebe Rose Memorial Methodist 
Episcopal Church was started. To-day this community, 
which was practically nonexistent nine years ago, has a 
church and bungalow parsonage worth $6,000. Ninety mem- 
bers are on the church roll. The Sunday school is in a flour- 
ishing condition. Both the Epworth League and Ladies' 
Aid Society are doing business, and the congregation last 
year paid $370 into the treasuries of the general benevolent 
boards of the church. 

When the ministry of these memorial churches is esti- 
mated in terms of high ideals, Christian citizenship, human 
brotherhood, and the many beneficial customs and laws 
which have been a part of the result of church influence, even 
the intricacies of compound interest are too simple to help 
reach the total. One best arrives at the practical benefits of 
such ministry by personal investment and consequent ob- 
servation of the changes which take place in individuals and 
in the community. 

The Style of the House of God 

The crudeness of the Christian democracy plants built 
by our forefathers has aroused considerable criticism in our 
day. The building made by the stacking of sods does not 



CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY POWER PLANTS 155 

appeal to the worshiper on the city boulevard. Nor does the 
log church or the ramshackle plain board edifice make much 
better impression. Our opinion of their taste in church 
architecture would not please them. But they built with the 
material at hand. Their one desire was to have a place in 
which they might worship God. The pictures which are pre- 
served to us are monuments to heroic faith and sacrifice 
rather than a cause for laughter. Moreover, all of the un- 
sightly church buildings were not built in their day. The 
people still serve on our official boards who perpetrated some 
of the queer-looking buildings which they call churches. It 
may be that they built according to their conception of 
church architecture. Probably they did. By so doing they 
demonstrated that a man may be a good blacksmith or grocer 
or banker and still not know what a church ought to be ar- 
chitecturally. 

It is this fact that brought into existence the Bureau of 
Architecture of the Methodist Episcopal Church. It is 
conducted under the joint auspices of the Board of Sunday 
Schools and the Board of Home Missions and Church Ex- 
tension, with headquarters in Chicago and Philadelphia. 
This Bureau is making a careful study of the difficulties 
connected with church architecture. It is a consulting house 
for the churches of the entire denomination. It is seeking 
to help congregations to find a type of building suitable for 
their own particular needs. Out of its study it will evolve 
some types of church buildings that can be recommended in 
accordance with the needs of the community. 

The work of the Bureau of Architecture is based upon 
the fundamental requirements of the church building, a place 
suitable for worship and work. For the modern church is a 
doing organization. Provision must therefore be made for 
an auditorium for worship, for suitable quarters for reli- 
gious education, and for rooms for social activities. For the 
first of these every church building committee provides. 
But very few churches have been planned with any thought 
of graded religious instruction in the Sunday school. Fre- 



156 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

quently the auditorium has been made to serve both for 
public worship and the Sunday school. And as for conven- 
iences for social activities, they were not even mentioned. 
But a new day has come. With the church destined to be 
the community center larger provision must be made in the 
church building for community needs. To meet these new 
demands and to guide congregations to a broader outlook' 
when they contemplate building a new church is the aim of 
this bureau which is now in the early days of its ministry. 

Our Future Leaders 

There are now 25,000 Methodist Episcopal young men 
and women enrolled in the State universities of the United 
States. About sixty- two per cent of them are there for tech- 
nical and advanced courses which they cannot get at Meth- 
odist institutions. Not satisfied with bemoaning the fact that 
many drift away from religious interests during their col- 
lege days, the church now seeks to hold them and train them 
for leadership in the days to come. This is done under a 
Joint Committee of the Board of Education and the Board 
of Home Missions and Church Extension, which has worked 
out a policy based on the results of a conference with all the 
Methodist Episcopal workers at the State universities. 

This policy or program aims to adapt the worship pro- 
gram to the spiritual needs of the students and encourages 
general cooperation with the local Methodist group. Where 
the religious educational needs are not adequately met, it 
supplements what is furnished in the regular curriculum of 
the university with study courses, lectures, etc. This is 
for the purpose of bringing to them the fundamentals of the 
Christian religion, a workable and intellectual knowledge 
of the Bible, and the answer to the many questions which 
naturally come to the growing intellect under the stimulus 
of modern science and literature. The recreation and social 
life of the students are given opportunity for satisfaction 
under conditions where the atmosphere is wholesome and 
elevating. The future Christian usefulness of the students 



CHKISTIAN DEMOCRACY POWER PLANTS 157 

is developed by acquainting them with the opportunities for 
service in the church. They are made familiar with the 
problems which belong to modern Christian efficiency. The 
methods which succeed are made their personal possession. 
This training is not by theory teaching alone. They are 
given actual tasks of Christian service which they perform 
under competent supervision. 



(before the war) 

©9 STATE INSTITUTIONS 125,000 STUDENTS 

250OO METHODIST STUDENTS 
42 INSTITUTIONS HAVE METHODIST WORK 
. OF SOME KIND 




WHERE LEADERS FOR CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY MAY BE TRAINED 



A Christian democracy power plant suitable to the 
needs of college students is necessary for the carrying out 
of such a program. The local Methodist Episcopal church 
is often too small and too ill-planned for campus Methodism. 
The Methodist student building should be large enough to 
accommodate the entire body of Methodist students now in 
the university and have room left for future increase. The 
opportunity to speed up the spread of Christian democracy 
through these young men and women who in a few years 
will be the leaders in the life of the nation is beyond ap- 



158 CHRISTIAN DEMOCEACY FOR AMERICA 

praisal. For they will be the molders of the thought of the 
people for the next generation. 

But leadership to train them is needed as much as ade- 
quate buildings. Only the strongest of personalities succeed 
with this sort of a parish. The very best educated men in 
the church must give themselves to this important task. Up 
to the present it has been necessary to select men with native 
ability and train them while in service. But the demand 
is growing faster than this can be done. Men ready to take 
up the work at an efficient plane are called for immediately. 
A training which demands the very best of those already 
equipped for the regular ministry must be inaugurated. The 
Board of Education is ready to take up the larger task of 
training men as it has the supervision and support of the 
"student pastors" already rendering service. But where 
are the men to train for this exceptional ministry? Where 
is the money to put into the future leadership of the land? 
Shall we pray for Christian democracy and fail to invest in 
one of the greatest opportunities for spreading its ideals 
broadcast in the lives of educated men and women? 

There has been no time when this work has been so 
much needed as now. It is important that the influences 
which tend toward better citizenship be exercised to the ut- 
most rather than obscured by the surface issues of the war. 
Trained men and women will be needed in great numbers as 
soon as the war is over. The same care which has been 
exercised in surrounding our soldiers and sailors with a 
moral and religious environment must be given to student 
life. Unless we conserve the moral, religious, and educa- 
tional advantages gained at home in times of peace we shall 
fail in the proper conduct of the war program. It means 
better soldiers, better citizens, better men. The morals of 
the nation depends on the vision for Christian service which 
university students carry with them into their varied fields 
of life endeavor. 

The Wesley Foundation at the University of Illinois, 
Urbana, Illinois, is an illustration of the possibilities of this 



CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY POWER PLANTS 159 

student work. The work done for students by Trinity Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church has outgrown the church, plant. A 
new equipment is needed to enable Methodism to measure up 
to its duty in this great training camp for the developing of 
experts in engineering, agriculture, law, medicine, and the 
other walks of life. The virile, gripping, spiritual faith 
needed in an age of eager quest for knowledge and power 
must be a part of the training. To meet this need a $500,- 
000 fund is being raised for the erection of a church building, 
a Social Center Building, and the beginning of an endow- 
ment fund. Toward this amount the Board of Home Mis- 
sions and Church Extension has given $10,000. And as fast 
as funds are available the Board will help to establish Chris- 
tian democracy power plants on the campus of every one of 
our State universities and Agricultural colleges. 

The Larger Demands 

The increasing responsibility of the church in the city 
has made a new and larger demand upon church extension 
than was thought possible of meeting years ago. A few 
hundred dollars' help will not meet the situation among the 
congested centers of population. Help must be given by the 
thousands ; and it is being given. When the General Com- 
mittee of the Board of Home Missions and Church Exten- 
sion which met in Oakland, California, in 1915, recognized 
the necessity of equipping city Christian democracy plants 
for the doing of a real ministry, the beginning of the Op- 
portunity Fund was assured. This fund, to be used in mak- 
ing large church extension gifts, is made up from the in- 
creases in the collections from the churches and undesig- 
nated bequests. The granting of help from this source is 
conditioned upon the local church raising at least three 
dollars for every dollar given to it by the Board. 

Old Broadway Methodist Episcopal Church, Cleveland, 
was the first beneficiary under the plan. This church, located 
in the center of the Slavic population of the city, ministers to 



160 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

Bohemians. It had a church building entirely inadequate 
for the ministry demanded of it. A new edifice of such type 
as would command the respect of the people whom it 
sought to reach was needed. On condition that the local 
church raise $165,000 for their enterprise $35,000 was given 
to them from the Opportunity Fund. The Church of All 
Nations of the Morgan Memorial Church, Boston, came 
next. Here, as a part of a multiform ministry in the con- 
gested city, a building was to be erected from which a min- 
istry to people of all races should go forth. It would like- 
wise house the New England School for the Training of a 
Foreign-Speaking Leadership. Toward the building of 
this enterprise for democracy the Board granted a gift of 
$25,000, to be added to the $155,000 to be raised locally. 
Chicago Methodism was also aided in this way. The sum of 
$25,000 was granted on condition that $500,000 be raised 
locally. This was made available when $25,000 was raised, 
on condition that $100,000 of the total become a part of a 
permanent endowment, the income to be used in city mission 
work. The remainder was for the purpose of readjusting 
and developing downtown Methodism in Chicago. And this 
is but the beginning. 

Methodist Episcopal work at three State universities 
was also helped this first year of the Opportunity Fund. 
The Wesley Foundation at the University of Illinois re- 
ceived $10,000 on condition that $100,000 be raised in addi- 
tion to the amount already in hand. The Interconference 
Commission of Iowa received $10,000 for the work at Ames, 
Iowa, and the University of Iowa $5,000 on condition that 
$50,000 be raised locally. And the same amount and condi- 
tions were the response to the application from the Methodist 
Episcopal college church at the University of Wisconsin. 
When all the conditions were met, it meant that $800,000 
were invested in Christian democracy power plants through 
the stimulus of the gifts from the Opportunity Fund. Busi- 
ness done on a large scale for the Kingdom brings large re- 
sults as it does elsewhere. 



CHKISTIAN DEMOCRACY POWER PLANTS 161 

"We 'be Building Two a Day" 

This was the optimistic response of Chaplain Charles C. 
McCabe to the challenge of Robert Ingersoll. And it is more 
than the happy exuberance of a man utterly convinced of the 
ministry of filling the land with churches. The 17,000 Meth- 
odist Episcopal churches helped with church extension 
money make a practical exhibit of no mean size. Placed side 
by side, with an average frontage of thirty feet, these 
churches would stretch out for a hundred miles. Riding 
twenty miles an hour it would take an automobile sightsee- 
ing party five hours to view them all. And as for seating 
capacity ! If this averaged one hundred and fifty a church, 
the entire population of Baltimore, Washington, and Phil- 
adelphia could be seated and the "Amen" corners still be 
left for late comers. 

Who can estimate what this has meant for Christian 
democracy in America? The lives that have been trans- 
formed, the communities that have been remade, the influ- 
ences that have gone forth in every direction, cannot be 
listed in columns of statistics. It is a part of the life of the 
nation. It is written in every adventure which has advanced 
the United States along its path of democratic leadership. 
It has been one of the effective forces which have put content 
and assurance into the song of Christian democracy. It lives 
forever in the words taught us in childhood and sung with 
newer meaning as the years increase, 

"Our Fathers' God, to thee, 
Author of liberty, 

To thee we sing; 
Long may our land be bright 
With freedom's holy light; 
Protect us by thy might, 

Great God, our King." 

Questions for Discussion 

1. What is the function of a Christian democracy 
power plant? 



162 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

2. How does the church in one community help the 
church in another community to erect its church building? 

3. Discuss the history of Church Extension in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 

4. In what sections of the country has this work been 
done? 

5. In what sense is the Board of Home Missions and 
Church Extension of the Methodist Episcopal Church a 
banker for the Kingdom? 

6. Discuss the method of securing a donation for 
church extension purposes. 

7. How may money be borrowed for church building 
purposes? 

8. Discuss the romance underlying these purely busi- 
ness transactions. What local color can you add to the 
story? 

9. In what different ways is the Memorial Church a 
blessing? Illustrate. 

10. How does the Bureau of Architecture help to ad- 
vance the cause of Christian democracy? 

11. What is being done to train future Methodist 
leaders at State Universities? Why is the same type of 
work not needed at Methodist institutions of learning? 

12. Discuss the possibilities of the ministry of the 
Opportunity Fund. 

13. What does the fact that the church extension funds 
of the church have aided in building 17,000 Methodist Epis- 
copal churches mean to you? 

14. Why is a church building essential to the teaching 
of Christian democracy ? 



It is always interesting to know what the neighbors have in their 
backyards. Our so-called modern frontier has a number of things that 
look interesting from the other side of the wall, but which are decided 
problems in the backyard itself. The Chinese and the Japanese on the 
Pacific Coast are possible evangelists to their fellow countrymen in 
Asia if the economic, social, and political problems involved in their 
presence in the United States can be worked out in a Christian way. 
This statement is easily demonstrable by the number of native preachers 
in Japan and China who were converted in Pacific Coast missions of 
the evangelical church. Spanish-Americans, two million strong, are 
in Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. They are 
found in the sugar beet fields of California, in the copper mines of 
Arizona, and as section men and sheepherders in the States farther 
north. Dealing with their manner of thought and habits of life is a 
problem as great as one wants to tackle. In addition large numbers of 
them are found in Porto Rico. One of the most difficult and perplexing 
problems in the home mission field is Mormonism, which has an exten- 
sive missionary propaganda of its own. Had Protestant home missions 
been well organized and liberally supported in the Mississippi Valley in 
1830, this problem would not have arisen. The root of the trouble here 
is theological and it must be solved by the church and not by politicians. 
Then there are the Indians, of whom there are three hundred and fifty 
thousand, only one half of whom are affiliated with any church. There 
is certainly enough problem material to make it worth while getting 
down on the other side of the wall and taking a hand. — R. W. K., in 
The Transformation. 

• 

So we have the three outer possessions of the church's domestic 
missions. Porto Pico, full of its love and devotion to America, may 
be likened to a warm and glowing ruby. Hawaii, full of the possibilities 
for future Christian living, is its pearl of the sea. But Alaska, with 
treasures buried deep, and yielding the best to those that seek, is its 
diamond in the rough. — Ralph Welles Keeler and Ellen Coughlin 
Keeler, in The Christian Conquest of America. 




AN ALASKAN FAMILY A DAUGHTER OF HAWAII 

THE WATER WAGON IN PORTO RICO 



CHAPTER VII 

VARIANTS OF THE TASK 

It is easier to grasp the theory of Christian democracy 
than it is to establish its practical operation. This is due to 
the varying types of people who must be taught to accept its 
principles as a basis of daily living. They are in some cases 
shut off from its benefits by barriers of race, religious train- 
ing and customs which have been inherited for generations. 
Others are a part of a definite antagonism to Christian de- 
mocracy itself. These variants of the task of making Chris- 
tian democracy nation-wide increase the urgency for a thor- 
oughly equipped forward movement on the part of the 
Church of Jesus Christ. It must be wide-awake to the pe- 
culiar sort of ministry that is necessary for the planting of 
the ideas which will bear fruit in such development of mind 
and heart. It must be of such character as to assure ac- 
ceptance of the world challenge for a democracy safe for all 
peoples everywhere. 

The Mokmons 

The Mormon Church, or so-called "Church, of Jesus 
Christ of Latter Day Saints,' ' has been a thorn in the flesh 
of American democracy for many years. Accepting only 
its own interpretation of the theory of life and government, 
it has thrived in that part of the country where everything 
has been in the process of development, and where the 
Christian Church was not awake to the insidiousness of what 
it was permitting to grow. True, 450,000 members is not a 
large following. Its progress since its start in 1830 has not 
been rapid. But when we take into account the fact that its 
propaganda is of the sort that keeps sex-consciousness 
uppermost in the minds of the people, its influence is incal- 

165 



166 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

culable. The distribution of the membership of the Mormon 
Church is significant. It has never been able to get a foot- 
hold in the Eastern States. Utah, its center and great 
stronghold, boasts of 293,000 members. Idaho comes next 
with 78,000. Arizona and Wyoming have 15,000 each, while 
there are not more than 5,000 in any other individual State ; 
10,000 a year is about the average rate of increase. 

GEOWTH OF M0KM0STISM 

The chief growth of Mormonism after reaching Utah, 
for many years was among the immigrants from Great Bri- 
tain and Scandinavia. Nearly one fourth of the present 
population of Utah was born in these two countries. The 
success of the Mormon propaganda among these people was 
due, first, to the concealment of the non-Christian aspects of 
Mormonism; and, second, to the promise of material suc- 
cess, such as securing better wages, or obtaining free farms. 
In recent years these two factors no longer operate to the 
same extent, and Mormon propaganda is not so successful. 
As a rule, Mormon converts are not now to be taken to Utah, 
but are expected to remain where they are. Thus Mormon- 
ism seeks to take its place as a world-wide and not a localized 
religion. At the present time a temple one hundred and 
sixty-five feet square is being built at Cardston, Alberta, for 
the use of the Canadian Mormons, and another seventy-eight 
feet square is being constructed in the Hawaiian Islands for 
the twenty-two thousand Mormons who live there and in 
New Zealand and the South Sea Islands. Doubtless later 
other temples will be erected in Europe. Mormon houses of 
worship have been built in a number of American cities and 
a beautiful structure for this purpose is now being erected in 
Brooklyn, New York. 

POLYGAMY 

Polygamy has been the outstanding curse of this cult of 
the West. Probably more people know of Mormonism 
through hearing of men with several homes, several wives, 



VARIANTS OF THE TASK 167 

and several sets of children than through any other item of 
the Mormon faith. It has been the issue around which 
battles for democracy and Christianity have raged for years. 
The pressure against polygamy became most acute in the 
early nineties. Up to that time the Mormons questioned the 
power of the United States government to enforce its own 
laws. In 1890, however, a new light dawned upon the 
Mormon leaders, and Wilford Woodruff, president of the 
Mormon Church, signed a manifesto permitting the discon- 
tinuance of the practice of multiple marriages. This gave 
them a breathing spell from the persecution directed against 
them. Six years later Utah was admitted to the Union as a 
State. Was the manifesto bona fide! It seems not to have 
been. Practically all the then existing marriage relation- 
ships have been maintained, and it is estimated on good 
authority that some two thousand polygamous marriages 
have been consummated since the manifesto was issued. But 
polygamy is doomed. What Christian propaganda has 
failed to accomplish the forces of economic and social 
evolution are bringing to pass. Polygamy belongs to the 
patriarchal period of human development. It has no part in 
an age of commercial and manufacturing activity. The 
influence of Christian culture has had a part in emphasizing 
this fact. So too has the rise of feminist doctrines. The 
fact that woman is now recognized as an individual suffi- 
cient unto herself is the very antithesis of the whole theory 
and teaching of Mormon theology. There is little reason to 
believe that polygamy is a force to be reckoned with prac- 
tically in the United States in the future. But how soon the 
deeply embodied theological basis for polygamy may be 
eliminated from Mormon thinking by the pressure of evan- 
gelical effort and public opinion it is difficult to prophesy. 

EVANGELIZATION SLOW 

It is always hard to win against counter-propaganda. 
The evangelical church has missionaries to the Mormons in 
Utah and the Mormon Church missionaries to the Christians 



168 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

in Boston. The 1,400 Mormon missionaries who are con- 
stantly in the field give two years of free service, their ex- 
penses being paid by themselves or relatives. The work of 
the evangelical church as represented by the Methodist 
Episcopal Church receives its support from the church at 
large, and expands or contracts as available funds permit 
or necessitate. In Utah, for instance, the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church has twenty charges, only two of which are self- 
supporting. And after all the years the membership is only 
1,712. One of the chief reasons, however, for the slow 
growth of the evangelical church in Utah lies in the fact 
that the majority of the non-Mormons going there are not 
connected with any church, are indifferent to religion, and in 
too many cases indifferent to morality. The minority who 
are church members and exemplify the virtues of evangel- 
ical faith have not been sufficiently numerous to give a cor- 
rect impression to the Mormons of what the Christian 
Church really is. Here is where the appeal comes strong. 
A well-supported, thoroughgoing advance, equipped with 
creditable property and a well-prepared personnel sent forth 
by all of the Home Mission Boards, would do the task much 
better than the much speechmaking and woeful presenta- 
tions which are so common. Utah is "a foreign missionary 
field at home" and must be approached in the same attitude 
as that taken by Christian missionaries in other lands 
toward religions which we consider inadequate. 

SOME BESTJLTS ATTAINED 

Tardiness, rather than failure, is the word to apply to 
the evangelical church with reference to its attempts to 
Christianize Mormonism. The gradual results have been 
hopeful, even though not resulting in positive conversions. 
The results of the evangelical missionary work in Utah thus 
far have been largely the modification of Mormon principles 
and practice in certain important points rather than in the 
conversion of individual Mormons to evangelical faith. The 
changed attitude of the Mormon Church toward education, 



VARIANTS OF THE TASK 169 

toward the United States government, toward the Bible, and 
toward Christian doctrine has been due largely to the efforts 
of evangelical missionaries. With the changed attitude 
toward these things there has come in each instance a change 
for the better in Mormon teaching. As in foreign lands, 
many of the people have lost their faith in their former reli- 
gion through the influence of this same Christian teaching, 
but they have not accepted evangelical Christianity. They 
remain nominal members of their church, while in reality 
they are agnostics, or atheists. Because of the social, com- 
mercial, and political power of the Mormon Church in Utah 
they do not change their technical relationship to the church, 
but they have little or nothing to do with it. They occupy a 
"No Man's Land" where democracy makes no appeal to 
them one way or another. Their children, however, are open 
to the appeal of evangelical Christianity. These young peo- 
ple are like the young people of any other part of the coun- 
try. They have imbibed some of the spirit of the age. They 
are alert to the broader opportunities of which they read and 
hear. The broadened outlook which they receive when they 
go into the world on missionary ventures has more effect 
upon them than does their propaganda upon the people 
whom they visit. 

A PEOBLEM FOR DEMOCRACY 

Mormonism is a real problem for democracy. It can- 
not sing the songs of the people of the land with the same 
spirit and enthusiasm that characterizes the newly citizened 
immigrant of the lower East Side in New York city. The 
strong utterances of the President of the United States do 
not receive the same unquestioned response from the leaders 
of this church. They are on the defensive when it comes to 
the great idea which is dominating the thought of all peo- 
ples everywhere to-day. Practical Christianity alone will 
break down the remaining barriers. By the use of states- 
manlike vision the Church of Jesus Christ can render service 
in this section of the church's remaining frontier that will 



170 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

count for all time, for the dislodgment of prevailing ideas by 
the planting of Christian ideals will here set a half a mil- 
lion American citizens well on the road to that democracy 
for which many of their sons are fighting to make the world 
safe. 

The American Indian 

Who has thought of democracy for the American In- 
dian? The manner in which his land was schemed for and 
stolen away from him surely did not give him any high ideal 
of the Christianity which actuated the despoilers of his hunt- 
ing grounds. That he struck back, and in a way cruel and 
barbarous, does not justify the method used in separating 
him from his possessions. Nor has the placing him on 
reservations added any to the record of our nation in dealing 
with these people. To-day the Indians are raising their 
war whoop in the trenches in the fight for the very principles 
which were withheld in dealing with them. That the first 
Methodist Episcopal missionaries were sent to the Indian 
is an interesting fact historically. That the church did not 
follow up this work in a Christian statesmanlike way is de- 
plorable. 

INCREASING IN NUMBERS 

The Indian has furnished more than one essayist and 
public speaker with material on "The Vanishing Race of 
Redmen." But he has not vanished. Undemocratic and 
unchristian treatment has had the opposite effect. To-day 
the Indians are increasing. Scattered over the country are 
over 350,000 of them. What an opportunity for Christian 
democracy! The 70,000 children who are under ten years 
of age will have incalculable influence on the next gen- 
eration. The church has done something for the Indian, but 
not all that it should. Some 90,000 over ten years of age 
are adherents of the Roman Catholic Church, while 60,000 
are members of the evangelical churches. Of the 130,000 
who are not identified with any church, 60,000 are in tribes 



VARIANTS OF THE TASK 



171 



where there is no opportunity to learn of Jesus Christ from 
either Protestants or Roman Catholics. 




1917 Report 

Members Probationers Scholars Pastors Property Suport Benewlences 
SPANISH "7,420' 554 2,615 2 $145,000^204 &884 

INDIAN 600 596 19,700 



CHINESE 344 


45 


549 


7 


175,000 


2,644 


812 


JAPANESE 1,227 


522 


848 


20 


160,000 


9497 


1.983 


UTAH 1,704 


119 


3200 


16 


230000 


13000 


2,966 




FRONTIER VARIANTS OF THE TASK 



CONDITIONS VARY 

The condition of life of the Indian varies. Location and 
the property he may have had are the chief factors of differ- 
ence. Sometimes he is very poor, while again there are large 
amounts of money to his credit invested by the govern- 



172 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

ment at Washington. Which of these classes is most diffi- 
cult to reach! It is not easy to determine. The possession 
of wealth is not nnmixed blessing. It has a tendency to 
pauperize. It curtails the development of industry. More- 
over, the government treats the Indians too much as wards, 
not recognizing their fitness for citizenship when that fitness 
exists. 

THE KOAD TO DEMOCRACY 

One of the great hopes for firing the Indian with the 
modern dreams of democracy lies in the public school or 
reservation day school. The children are gradually re- 
ceiving this opportunity. This brings them in close contact 
with all the other elements of the population. It prepares 
them for the future responsibilities of citizenship. It in- 
spires them with the hope of having a part in the future 
greatness of the land which once was the sole possession of 
their fathers. College training is also having its influence. 
The evolution from the days of paint and feathers and the 
red trail of the massacre to educated men and women who 
are a surety of what the years may bring for all has been 
more rapid than we realize; 78,000 Indians are already 
citizens of the United States, and instead of following the 
hunt they are cultivating nearly 700,000 acres of land. 

WHEN THE CHURCH AWAKENS 

What a day it will be when the people from whom this 
great land was taken come into their own ! And how differ- 
ent will be their estate than was their fathers ! Already the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, in common with other denom- 
inations, is at work on the task of bringing that day to pass. 
What if the church should suddenly awake to the possibility 
of hastening somewhat in this respect, and take on its full 
share of this most fruitful venture! The tribes which at 
present receive the ministry of the Christian Church through 
Methodist Episcopal agencies are the Oneida, Onondaga, 
Ottawa, Saint Regis, Seneca, Mohawk, Chippewa, Black- 



VAEIANTS OF THE TASK 173 

feet, Klamath, Lake Modoc, Nooksak, Paiute, Porno, Pot- 
awatomi, Siletz, Slioshoni, Washo, Yukaia, and Yuma. In 
several of these tribes the work is done by the Woman's 
Home Missionary Society. Methodism has been asked by 
the Home Missions Council also to assume responsibility for 
the giving of the gospel to some 15,000 Indians scattered in 
small tribes in California. While it is encouraging to read 
the list of tribes just given, in general it must be said that 
the Methodist Episcopal Church has not yet assumed its fair 
share of the task of supplanting the heritage of the wigwam 
with the Christian home. 

The Latiet-Amekican 

One soon awakens to a sense of provincialism when tak- 
ing a trip through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, 
and California. And it is not the scenery alone that stirs. 
It is the sudden recognition of the fact that our great South- 
west is peopled with nearly 2,000,000 folks who speak Span- 
ish and live the customs of centuries ago. Probably 500,000 
of them were born in this country. They possess American 
citizenship and are proud of it. But they are poorly edu- 
cated and do not speak the language of the nation of which 
they are a part. Their ideas of democracy are translated 
through a language which has not a democratic flavor. 
Their religious views are all tinctured with the Eoman Ca- 
tholicism of centuries ago. These people were well repre- 
sented in the Civil War and thousands of them are in the 
trenches in France to-day, fighting to make the world safe 
for our democracy. And we have not taken the trouble to 
give them our language in order that they may interpret our 
ideals as we do. The fathers of many of these men were in 
this country when the United States took the territory from 
Mexico in 1848. Others were in Texas when that State 
seceded from Mexico. 

THE WISDOM OF THE WISE 

How shall the ideals which we prize be given to these 



174 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

people? And to the million who have come swarming over 
the border as refugees during the more recent days? Cer- 
tainly the church cannot deliver a message that will be lis- 
tened to when it sets up halls and shacks in disreputable and 
inconvenient sections of the community as mission centers. 
Anarchists are pushing their propaganda among them. 
Socialists are diligently spreading their doctrines. And 
these use the poverty of the Spanish- Americans as a point 
of contact. They bring their message in terms of the peo- 
ple's illiteracy. They recognize the seasonal shifting of the 
population and follow it. Much is made of existing antip- 
athy to American life and citizenship. The prevailing 
blind atheism or ignorant loyalty to the Roman Catholic 
Church is seized upon. In New Mexico alone does such 
propaganda fail, for here is found a love for American cit- 
izenship. 

A CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY OPPORTUNITY 

Many of these who have come in the later immigration, 
refugees from the troubles in Mexico, are employed as un- 
skilled labor. There is great demand for them as sheep- 
herders. They make good section hands on the railroads. 
The copper mines welcome them ; and a goodly number toil 
in the beet and cotton fields. They have no trouble with the 
climate. Some have gone as far north as Idaho and Iowa. 
Others have gone as far east as Philadelphia and New York. 
Education and evangelization must grasp hands in the task 
with these folks. They are not likely to leave us. They must 
be made like us. The Portuguese, likewise Latin- Americans, 
must be ministered to in the same way as are the Mexicans. 
They do not become a part of the community into which they 
come, but drive out the other groups. In California they are 
displacing the American population in great valley and 
ranch sections. More work like that being done by the 
Spanish- American Institute at Gardena, California; Albu- 
querque College, Albuquerque, New Mexico ; and the schools 
for girls at Tucson, Arizona, and El Paso and Albuquerque, 



VAEIANTS OF THE TASK 175 

New Mexico, will advance the dawn of a new day for these 
people, for they must have a leadership from among their 
own people, who know their ways and habits of thought. 

A NEW TYPE OP CHURCH 

Churches must also be provided of the character of the 
Plaza Community Church for Latin-Americans at Los 
Angeles, California. This church, modeled after the Morgan 
Memorial Church, Boston, has all of its excellent institu- 
tional features and in addition those peculiar things essen- 
tial to securing contact with the Latin- American mind and 
needs. It looks like an uphill process to lead unpoetic Don 
Juans into the fullness of the aims of Christian democracy. 
Apparently all that they have left of their picturesque her- 
itage are the superstition, the vices, the language, the igno- 
rance, the immorality, and the religious beliefs of the Spain 
of Philip the Second. But it is this fact which gives zest 
to the enterprise. "New ways for old" is the motif of 
democracy's song. And Christianity adds, "and a life that 
knows God." What a chance to prove the song by training 
these two millions of people to sing both the words and 
music as an expression of something which they know ex- 
perimentally ! 

The Oriental 

a different problem 

The Oriental differs from every other comer to our 
shores in that the State has said that he is not welcome. To 
the Chinese and Japanese the Goddess of Liberty dims her 
torch. Herein is a strange hiatus in America's speech of 
welcome to the children of all nations. Of course there is a 
reason. But does the reason harmonize with Christian 
democracy's song of each for all and all for each? Years 
ago a large Chinese immigration set in. They were em- 
ployed in building railroads, in the mines, as domestic 
servants, and as laundrymen. Some even went into mer- 
cantile establishments. Then arose a cry in the land. 



176 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

American labor unions objected to the presence of these 
men in American industries. So strong was the agitation 
that Chinese immigration was prohibited. A little later the 
Japanese began to arrive. Coming from a higher class than 
did the Chinese immigrants, they made rapid progress in 
agriculture and commerce. Again a cry arose in the land, 
and from the same quarter. The result was a "gentlemen's 
agreement" between the governments of the United States 
and Japan. Accordingly, no more Japanese laborers are 
coming. But what of those already here, caught between 
the welcome and the withdrawing of democracy's oppor- 
tunity? 

THEIR NUMBERS 

There are now about 80,000 Chinese and 100,000 Jap- 
anese in the United States. Have not these men, women, 
and children a claim upon the church? And has not the 
Christian Church here an opportunity to inculcate by prac- 
tical demonstration those ideals and aims which the nation 
is anxious to diffuse among the kindred of these people in 
their homeland? The task is made difficult by the govern r 
mental restrictions mentioned. But the spirit of the Christ 
knows no national boundaries. Moreover, if the Chinese 
and Japanese in the United States are convinced of the prac- 
tical character of Christianity, its acceptance will be made 
more easy in both China and Japan. 

THEIR DISTRIBUTION 

New York, Philadelphia, and a few other large "Eastern 
cities have a ' i Chinatown ' ' among the various race colonies 
which make up their cosmopolitan population. By far the 
largest number of the Chinese, however, are on the Pacific 
Coast. The States of California, Colorado, Washington, 
and Oregon claim most of the Japanese in this country, very 
few except the student and merchant class having gone 
farther east. The tendency of both the Japanese and 
Chinese to live in exclusive colonies makes the task of Chris- 



VARIANTS OF THE TASK 177 

tianizing and Americanizing them a difficult one. The un- 
friendliness and suspicion created by the attitude of certain 
publications and labor organizations makes the barrier the 
more difficult to penetrate. And the presence of a Buddhist 
temple in every large city on the Pacific Coast has a partly 
neutralizing effect on every effort made in this direction. 

HELPING JAPAN 

The difficulty of the task only intensifies the urgency of 
the challenge. For years the Methodist Episcopal Church 
has realized the value of a favorable verdict for Christianity 
on the part of those who return to their homes in the Far 
East. Many of the Japanese preachers who are doing effi- 
cient work in Japan were converted to Christianity in the 
Methodist Japanese Missions on the Pacific Coast. Whether 
in their stores or in other places of business, these people are 
getting a first-hand knowledge of our ways. Hundreds of 
the young Japanese men and women are in domestic service. 
On the ranches and among the orchards they are serving 
diligently. Is it worth while to send itinerant missionaries 
to teach them, as is done for their fellows abroad! The op- 
portunity in Sunday school work increases with the rapidly 
increasing birth rate. Here the processes of Americaniza- 
tion may be speeded up to almost any desired point. 

A CHINESE CHALLENGE 

When we give ourselves in all seriousness to the estab- 
lishing of Christian democracy in the United States we will 
give more heed to the Chinese among us. The older men, who 
came to this country years ago as laborers, and who are 
firmly fixed in their habits of thought, are not much con- 
cerned about Christianity. They are migratory in habit and 
are widely scattered. But if they listen to the street 
preacher disseminate doctrines other than those of Chris- 
tianity, it is reasonable to conclude that the gospel message 
will reach them in this same manner, as well as through 
tracts. The Chinese who have established themselves in the 



178 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

centers of population are more accessible, especially through 
the children. What a chance the family church has in 
demonstrating its creed among these little folks from the 
land of the Dragon ! And the student class ! When future 
leaders come right into our midst, who is at fault if they do 
not have a fair presentation of the very principles which are 
the foundation of our best national life? Ambitious and 
eager to learn English, they are here to-day and to-morrow 
they are directing the affairs of state in China. Some of 
them are unable to enter the public schools until they have 
had a preparatory course in a mission school. They not only 
have to be taught, they also must have lodgings. The Chris- 
tian Church has the first chance to make its impress upon 
minds desirous of getting those things which account for the 
type of civilization which has made America a household 
word the world around. In China there is a considerable 
number of Christian churches, the origin of which can be 
traced to home missionary work among the Chinese in Cali- 
fornia. Together with the Hawaiian Missions these Oriental 




ALASKA— "SEWARD'S FOLLY" AND OUR OPPORTUNITY 



VARIANTS OF THE TASK 179 

missions in the United States may be made to serve as one 
of the very best wedges for the introduction of Christian de- 
mocracy into the Orient. 

Alaska 

The sky pilot of the dog sled and gasoline launch in 
far-off Alaska has much the same problem as the home mis- 
sionary in New York or Chicago who ministers to the pass- 
ing throngs. For Alaska is a land of transients ; the lure of 
business opportunity is in the air and men move from the 
mining camp to boom town. But the missionary in Alaska 
is far from the base of supplies. The people back home have 
no adequate conception of either his task or his needs, to say 
nothing of the opportunities which he is obliged to pass up 
because of limited resources. 

A REAL MAN'S LAND 

Ecclesiastical statesmen have been as shortsighted with 
reference to Alaska as those statesmen who in 1867 opposed 
Scretary Seward's plan to purchase this territory of 586,- 
400 square miles of inexhaustible riches. The fabulous re- 
turns to the United States on its investment of $7,200,000.98 
have long since convinced those concerned with the material 
affairs of the nation that Secretary Seward was wiser than 
his generation realized. Wealth in agriculture, furs, copper, 
coal, petroleum, marble, and gold, and a $20,000,000 annual 
yield from the fisheries is now evidence enough for them. 
But what of the folks who are engaged in these industries ! 
Not all of them are Indians or Eskimos. Alaska is a white 
man's country. True, the population is scanty and the towns 
are small. But the average man in Alaska is shrewd, dar- 
ing, and educated. He is possessed of the spirit of a land 
that knows no discouragement. No ordinary ' ' sky pilot" will 
reach him. The minister must be a man of the North. He 
is obliged to be a committee of one on self-help. After his 
title of the Rev. John Brown he must be able to add CM., 
D.T.D., G.B.C., C.B., G.U.M. All this dignity is conferred 



180 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

upon him as rapidly as he qualifies as campmaker, dog-team 
driver, gas-boat chauffeur, cabin builder, and general utility 
man. And he must qualify, or his ministry fails. 

It is a gigantic task to put up to a man. But how the 
elements of democracy thrive in such a preacher ! What a 
hearing of the teachings of the Man of Galilee such a man 
of Alaska can secure ! He has the punch which comes from 
being one of the selfsame reliant fellows as those to whom he 
ministers. If necessary, he can sit down with Eskimos at 
their annual dance and eat heartily of their menu of strings 
of dried fish served with seal oil, boiled seal meat, slapjacks 
served with seal oil, frozen berries, hot tea and doughnuts 
served with seal oil. And he can preach to the wanderers of 
the North, college men from nearly every big university in 
the States, in the language of both their heads and their 
hearts. 

METHODISM KEPKESENTED 

The contribution of the Methodist Episcopal Church to 
the Christian democracy of Alaska is now being made at 
Nome, Juneau, Seward, Fairbanks, and Ketchikan. This 
work is financed by the Board of Home Missions and Church 
Extension. The work among the Eskimos is done by the 
Woman's Home Missionary Society. With Alaska "dry" 
the church should see to it that the wild vices of an untamed 
land are curbed by the restraining power of Christian fel- 
lowship. The next trench should be taken for the kingdom 
of God! 

Hawaii 

The ukulele and the popular song have done much to 
give us our impression of Hawaii. Comfort, ease, and moon- 
light nights spent on the beach listening to native music are 
the dominating features. But underneath this table d'hote 
conception of this possession at the crossroads of the Pacific 
is another strain. American democracy here comes to close 
grips with the civilization of the Far East. Those ideals 



VARIANTS OF THE TASK 



181 



which are multiplied most rapidly will decide the dominat- 
ing influences of the future. And the ideals which are held 
precious on the mainland can be multiplied only by such a 
recognition of the situation as will provide for a force and 
equipment adequate for the task. 

A NEW HAWAII 

Native Hawaii is not democracy's problem. The mis- 
sionaries of the American Board (Congregational) who 
went there in 1819 did their work so thoroughly that a broad 




THE HALFWAY HOUSE OF THE PACIFIC 
A strategic field for Christian Democracy 



182 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

type of Anglo-Saxon civilization was early established. But 
the native Hawaiians are disappearing, there being only 
20,941 of them left in the islands to-day. In their place are 
found Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos, Portuguese, 
and Americans. Here at the halfway house of all trans- 
Pacific travel will be worked out the philosophy of life and 
government that will react upon both the nations of the Far 
East and the United States. Hawaii is " where the West 
begins" to the Oriental. Here the East and West meet in 
stern reality. It is America 's great immigration experiment 
station. Will the results be beneficial to those who are in the 
process of the experiment? 



THE JAPANESE QUESTION 

The Japanese number four to one against any other na- 
tionality in Hawaii. The Hawaii-born Asiatic will soon hold 
the balance of power. He cannot be denied the right to the 
ballot and will not tamely submit to any movement for his 
disfranchisement. In a few years all the important offices 
will be held by an alien people. Will American-born Asiatics 
make good American citizens? The answer rests with the 
Church of Jesus Christ. They must not be left alone in their 
day of awakening. They must be guided in the hour of their 
prejudice. Now is the time to determine whether they will 
look to Washington or to Tokyo for direction as they ap- 
proach the ballot box. The $100,000 Buddhist temple in 
Honolulu and the thirty-five large schools which the Bud- 
dhists have established throughout the territory are the 
watchman's cry from the tower. For here 14,000 American- 
born Japanese children go each day before and after the 
regular hours of public school. With two conceptions of 
God, of home, of government, of the relation of child to par- 
ent, and of men to women, what a confusion awaits the child 
as he grows to maturity! Which conception will have the 
stronger hold upon his thinking and life ? Is Christianity to 
prevail in the type of democracy developed? 



VARIANTS OF THE TASK 183 

NOW IS THE TIME 

The Filipinos are more adaptable to American ways, 
while the Koreans lend themselves readily to our form 
of church life. The need of trained Christian Japanese, 
Filipino, and Korean leaders who speak English is apparent. 
The need of their being at their task to-day is not so easily 
recognized. t If the Hawaii of the future is to be American, 
we must prepare for the day when all religious exercises will 
be conducted in English. The church should not demand 
less for the stars and stripes than the public schools demand. 

In meeting the task of Americanizing and Christianizing 
these peoples of the mid-Pacific, a comity arrangement has 
been made whereby the Methodist Episcopal Church does 
no work among the Chinese and the Congregational Church 
does no work among the Koreans. The city of Honolulu is 
a joint responsibility among the Japanese and Filipinos. 
All the rest of the territory has been districted and assigned 
to different denominations. Thus the Methodist Episcopal 
Church has a definite responsibility laid at its door. Why 
wait for ten years and then look about for some place to 
lay the blame for lacking the far look? Ten years will see the 
tendency for the future of Hawaii settled. What is done 
to-day will help to decide what that future will be. 

Porto Rico 

Porto Rico, an island consisting of a series of hills and 
valleys, is our Spanish possession in the West Indies. Since 
its discovery by Columbus, November 19, 1493, until twenty 
years ago its history has been a sad one. The gradual inter- 
mixture of Spanish, Indian, and Negro, and later of white 
people, has left a race indolent and easy, content with their 
poverty and illiteracy. For the most part dwellers in rural 
communities, the people live close to nature in a very real 
sense, the need of much clothing not being felt, and shoes not 
being worn by three fourths of the million and a quarter 
inhabitants. 



184 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

EVANGELICAL TKANSFOKMATIOET 

Until Porto Rico came under the guidance of the United 
States as one of the results of the Spanish- American war, in 
1898, Roman Catholicism dominated the life of the people. 
In every community the church of this faith is the most 
prominent building and the one most advantageously lo- 
cated. Evangelical Christianity has been warmly welcomed, 
however, and is gradually transforming the lives of the peo- 
ple. The church is beginning to have a vital relationship to 
life. The marriage ceremony, for which there was little re- 
gard, because of the exorbitant fees charged by the priests, 
is coming into repute again. Concubinage is being done 
away with. The public school system introduced by the 
United States is showing results in the type of ambition 
manifested by the rising generation. A greater desire for 
Americanization is being manifested. But the task of trans- 
forming the mass of the population has only been begun. 
The lighthearted irresponsibility of a people governed for 
generations by others is not quickly overcome. The cock- 
sureness and satisfaction in self is not eliminated in a day. 
The dignity of labor gains a foothold only slowly. The 
heritage of slavery and peonage gives way to democracy in 
a grudging way. 




PORTO RICO, SHOWING POINTS WHERE THE METHODIST EPIS- 
COPAL CHURCH IS TEACHING THE PRINCIPLES OF 
CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY 



VARIANTS OF THE TASK 185 

CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY TAUGHT 

The sweet songs of the evangelical church are singing 
the truths of Christian democracy into the hearts of these 
poverty-stricken people. Divided among the several Home 
Mission Boards of eight denominations, the evangelization 
of the island is being carried on effectively under a comity 
agreement which prevents waste of money and effort. The 
present Protestant population is about 50,000, the rest of the 
people being nominally Roman Catholic or else indifferent to 
any form of religion. Those who are related in some way 
to the Protestant churches get with their religious teaching a 
training in the best things in Americanization. The fellow- 
ship of Christian faith leads naturally to a common footing 
in democratic ideals. The soldiers who left the Island for 
service overseas received some of their technical trench war- 
fare training in community houses attached to a Methodist 
Episcopal Church. 

A CHANCE TO MULTIPLY INFLUENCE 

When Porto Rico is thoroughly Americanized it will be 
under the local administration of Porto Ricans. The policy 
of the administration at Washington is to fill with natives 
all offices left vacant by Americans from the States. This 
means that to-day is the time to be giving these folks the high 
idealism of Christian democracy. They will practice it as 
officials to-morrow. Thus the work done now will be multi- 
plied many fold through the influence of those in high posi- 
tion in the state. Just as the government trained hundreds 
of native young women for positions in the public schools in 
the Island, so must the church train native leaders for its 
part of the task. We are past the time for halfway mea- 
sures. The increasing intelligence of the people will not 
accept any leadership but the best. And the message which 
the church has for them demands that it is delivered by men 
so trained as to command a respectful hearing from the 
best-educated people, as well as from those to whom it comes 



186 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

as the first sign of the dawn of a new day of hope. Shall the 
church become the community center while things are in a 
process of development? Or will it let some other institu- 
tion which it will later have to displace creep in while it hesi- 
tates to meet its obligation and opportunity ? 

Our Own United States 

It grows increasingly difficult to write a national hymn 
for the United States which will include its many diverse 
variants. When there were but thirteen colonies on the 
Eastern seaboard this might have been done with ease. To- 
day, however, the song would become a catalog or guidebook. 
But there is a song which the various peoples of our land 
can sing with a feeling that it unites them in one common 
bond. Its music is written in the high idealism of the Chris- 
tian faith. Its words are caught from the practical work- 
ing out of a democracy which knows no distinctions. The 
song in its entirety is the song which we are endeavor- 
ing to teach to the nations of the earth. Our immediate task 
is to see that it is so well sung by every individual within 
the bounds of our own country that no discord will jar the 
rendering when we finally get the ear of the other peoples. 
For after the days of battle are over a careful analysis will 
be made of this democracy for which men are dying in order 
that the world may be a safe place for its demonstration. 
In that day may we be able to say, ' l Our democracy is Chris- 
tian and will stand the test ! ' ' 

Questions for Discussion 

1. What constitutes the "menace" of Mormonism? 
How is the church meeting it ? 

2. Discuss the changes that have taken place in Mor- 
mon attitude because of the teaching of the evangelical 
church. 

3. What has democracy for the American Indian ! 

4. To what extent has the Christian Church failed in 



VARIANTS OF THE TASK 187 

• 
meeting its obligation to the Indian? The Methodist Epis- 
copal Church? 

5. What are the things which make the Latin-Amer- 
ican situation in the Southwest an urgent challenge to Chris- 
tian democracy? 

6. Discuss some of the methods of Christian work now 
being done there. 

7. What gives the task of Christianizing the Oriental 
a different character from those just discussed? 

8. Show the value to foreign missions of evangelizing 
the Chinese and Japanese in the United States. 

9. Why do we hear so little about Alaska in our 
churches ? 

10. What sort of a proposition is the task of the mis- 
sionary in Alaska ? 

11. Discuss democracy's problem and opportunity in 
Hawaii. 

12. Why must the Christian Church do its best work 
there immediately? 

13. How does the background of Porto Rican thought 
affect the acceptance of the evangelical Christianity? 

14. How has the evangelical church gone at its task 
there? 

15. What must be the content of our national song in 
order that it may be sung by all ? 



I 
A church which is not gripping the life of its own community is 

simply bluffing, however zealous it may be in sending to the uttermost 
parts. An unsaved America, zealously saving the nations beyond the 
seas, simply shows its incapacity even to comprehend the saving Amission 
for anybody. A program which permits a so-called missionary church 
to welter in the reek of its own community's moral disease, cheapens 
distressingly the gospel it presumes to preach, and at the same time 
casts disgraceful reflections upon the distant community to which it 
presumes to bear its gospel message. — Joseph Ernest McAfee, in Mis- 
sions Striking Home. 

It is no longer physical nature about which our whole thought world 
swings, it is humanity. — Eugene W. Lyman, in The God of the New 
Age. 

Education for democracy means the development of each indi- 
vidual to the most intelligent, self-directed and governed, unselfish and 
devoted, sane, balanced and effective humanity. — Edward Howard 
Griggs, in The Soul of Democracy. 

We must go further than mere service, or even mere contact in 
service. There can be no real success unless Christian people are 
possessed with the right spirit and approach and with the right attitude 
of mind and heart. The thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians must 
be imbedded in the very soul of the worker. The greatest social service 
or individual service that one can render is sympathy. Programs, how- 
ever good, will be nothing more than "scraps of paper" unless this spirit 
vitalizes the plan. There must be created a Christlike thoughtfulness, 
carefulness, sympathy, concern for those about us that need our help. 
This cannot be accomplished by any force from without, for external 
force cannot mellow and soften and purify the spirit of man. A new 
heart must be given him, he must have a new conception of what a 
man is, a creature just a "little lower than the angels," or, as one of the 
versions puts it, "a little lower than God." In every man is a God- 
deposit and in a measure in him we find again God in human flesh. 
When the significance of this thought sweeps in upon the Christian it 
will convert him as it did me when I faced it one day. Whatever we 
think of the color of a man's skin, the shape of his eyes or the size of 
his body, we must respect the spirit in him, that deposit of God, or may 
we not again crucify the Lord of Glory? "Inasmuch as ye did it unto 
the least of these, my brethren, ye did it unto me." — George B. Dean. 




THE GOSPEL IN THE OPEN— LITTLE ITALY, NEW YORK CITY 



FOR COUNTRY AND FOR GOD— FLAG RAISING AT BETHEL SHIP 

NORWEGIAN-DANISH METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK 



CHAPTEE VIII 
THE CHALLENGE OF THE CHRIST 

Our Present Responsibility 

How shall the multitudes be taught the truth the prac- 
tice of which makes Christian democracy possible ? It is use- 
less to survey communities, study conditions, plan for equip- 
ment, and summons leaders unless that which all this leads 
to is determined. People are transformed by the new ideas 
which they receive and whose validity they accept. New 
ways of life are not tried without adequate motive. What is 
the motive which we are giving to those who are seeking the 
best? What is the plea that we put before those who are un- 
concerned about the things which are uppermost in the 
minds of Christian leaders? How do we go about getting 
others to accept our conception of a democracy which shall 
be synonymous with the kingdom of God on earth? Across 
the centuries comes the challenge of the Christ to make him 
known to man, woman, and child. His voice summons to 
such endeavor as will leave no question as to the sincerity 
of our purpose. He calls with no uncertain voice to those 
who wander in uncertainty ; and they will be able to hear him 
only as we make plain to them the message which he speaks. 

War has clouded the sky and added to the inability of 
the people of our own and every land to hear the voice of 
God in the affairs of men. Questionings which had lain 
dormant are now active in the thinking of countless hun- 
dreds of thousands. Does God still exist? Has Christianity 
utterly failed? Does God hear the prayers of opposing 
armies when they plead for his assistance ? Is he mindful of 
the men slain on the field of battle? Is he concerned over 
the homes made lonely by the taking away of their men? 

191 



192 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

Will the church ever be able to answer the new demands 
made upon it? The list is long. The questioners are many. 
No superficial answer will satisfy. It must be an answer 
that will vitalize faith and stimulate to service. Every phase 
of human living is involved. Every human relationship is 
affected. Who shall rise to give assurance to the people! 
There is but one institution whose experience and faith are 
equal to the task. The Church of Jesus Christ must recon- 
secrate itself to the needs of to-day. As in times past it must 
be the steadying force of the nation. Its message must be 
proclaimed in every place where men and women are to be 
found. It must talk the language of the^people. Through 
its ministry the Master must be privileged to walk where 
need is great, where faith is wavering, where hope is dim. 
The evangel of the Son of God must be proclaimed so that 
people will behold him. Out of the horrors and devastation 
of war a new day must dawn. The character of that day de- 
pends upon those who claim Jesus Christ as their Saviour 
and Lord. 

Methodism Always Evangelistic 

This is no new challenge to the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. The purpose of her ministers and missionaries at 
home and abroad has ever been to lead folks to see and ac- 
cept the way of life lived and advocated by the Master. 
Prom its very beginning it has been an evangelistic church. 
The fervor of its preaching has been a symbol of its min- 
istry. Salvation has been the most prominent note in its 
song. Class leaders have toiled to make its message effect- 
ive. Exhorters have added their plea to the minister's word 
of guidance. Pastors and itinerant evangelists have stirred 
the people to consider their way of life, if it be in accordance 
with the will of God. The challenge to-day is more complex 
than it has been. Its demands are for greater sacrifice and 
harder service. But the church which for several genera- 
tions has adapted itself to the changing needs of the times 
will respond now with full-hearted loyalty. It is awake to 



THE CHALLENGE OF THE CHRIST 193 

the needs of our national life. It recognizes the Kingdom's 
necessities. It has called its ministry and membership to 
service which is adapted to the conditions and needs. It is 
pointing them to the way they may best help in a task the 
doing of which will bless not only our own land, but also 
every land where our boasted democracy gains foothold. 

New Points of Contact 

Meeting the religious needs of any day necessitates a 
recognition of the new points of contact. The increasing 
complexity of American life emphasizes this very strongly. 
Our sudden plunging into world responsibilities adds to the 
importance of this recognition. We are no longer mere indi- 
vidualists. Even the isolated farmer is to-day tied up to the 
rest of the nation by his contribution of war food for the na- 
tions. Into every home in the United States has gone the 
call for men. We have been welded together in a few short 
months in a way in which the years failed to unite us. At 
every point where we rub elbows is an opportunity for inter- 
preting the message of the Christ. The upheaval in our 
economic life forces an interpretation and application of 
the gospel which demonstrates the justice of its appeal. 
Labor unionism is becoming a religion which must be met at 
the point where practical righteousness is demonstrated. 
The industrial world has felt the heavy burdens which Chris- 
tianity offers to remove and is waiting for an utterance 
which will bring relief. The educational interests of the 
country want the message translated so as to meet the needs 
of the developing minds of the student body. A presentation 
is needed which has the same intellectual adequacy as has the 
presentation of those philosophies at which the world has 
grasped during the centuries. An evangelism is needed that 
knows no distinction between people. It must be tireless in 
its efforts. It must know people as well as its message. 
Fired by a desire to help the people to whom it goes, it must 
put the counting of heads in the background. If the effort 
is to save the church it would better be put into other direc- 



194 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

tions. Is it the church that must be saved, or the people who 
must be helped! This question finds ready answer in a form 
of ministry now being performed by the church, which did 
not exist before the war. 

Fok Ouk Boys in Khaki and Blue 

The evangelism to the soldiers and sailors of the United 
States is a fine illustration of the church unmindful of itself. 
In hundreds of cantonments and smaller camps the men of 
our homes have been training for service overseas. Thou- 
sands of them have already gone over. Hundreds of them 
are buried beneath the soil of a land they had never seen 
until a few months ago. To these men in camp the church 
has carried the message of the Christ. Ministers have served 
in the huts of the Y. M. C. A. Others have manned the 
churches just outside the camp and have devoted all of their 
time to ministering to these men from every part of the 
country. In such service the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
through its Board of Home Missions and Church Extension, 
has invested its money. Where there was no church near the 
camp one has been built. In some instances federations have 
been effected with other denominations. Whatever way 
seemed to be most effective for the welfare of those min- 
istered to has been adopted. The soldiers and sailors have 
crowded into the preaching services. They have accepted 
Christ at the altars of these churches. The social functions 
have had all of the home atmosphere that could be put into 
them. When the summons to embark has come our boys 
in khaki and blue have entrained for a port of embarkation 
with the happy consciousness that the church which they 
were taught to love in childhood has manifested its love for 
them in their hour of peculiar need. And those who had 
never known its blessings until the days in camp have sailed 
overseas with the new asset in life of fellowship with the 
One above all others who can sustain in the day of battle. 

Nor has the church stopped at the camps. It has sent 
its ministers as chaplains with its sons to the very front. 



THE CHALLENGE OF THE CHRIST 195 

Equipping them with the things essential for ministry in the 
trenches, the church has gone with them to supply whatever 
need they might have which the government does not supply. 
Churches have released their pastors to serve with the 
Y. M. C. A. abroad and to go as Red Cross chaplains. And 
every one of these men has taken with him the evangel, to 
interpret it in the strange, new terms of bloodshed and 
horror. The old terminology is obsolete so far as these men 
are concerned. But the vital saving power of the gospel re- 
mains as effective as ever. The great privilege of these 
chaplains on the field of battle is to make this point clear 
and to help the fighting men under their guidance to demon- 
strate it. In so far as the fighting force of the nation is con- 
cerned the Church of Jesus Christ is awake. The Methodist 
Episcopal Church has accepted this unexpected point of 
contact and is serving mankind in a new way. Will the 
church accept the opportunities of usefulness afforded by 
the new points of contact in the groups of people at home? 
Will the Methodist Episcopal Church retain her heritage of 
being "all things to all men" and bring the evangel to the 
particular needs of men in terms which are intelligible to 
them, with a force which convinces that faith in Jesus Christ 
is the way of the world's salvation? 

The Depaktment of Evangelism 

It is for the doing of this very thing that the Depart- 
ment of Evangelism of the Board of Home Missions and 
Church Extension of the Methodist Episcopal Church was 
organized. It does not pretend to have the open sesame for 
all of the religious problems of the day, or to stand as the 
sole wisdom of the church in matters pertaining to evan- 
gelism. It was organized in order that the church might 
have a clearing house on this vital matter. It exists in order 
that every minister and local church may have the benefit of 
the tried experience and practice of the entire church in lead- 
ing men to actual fellowship with Jesus Christ. The task 
of such a department is multiplex. The church looks to it 



196 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

for guidance. Its field is almost limitless. Its opportunity 
is beyond estimating. Its value depends upon the coopera- 
tion of the constituency which it was organized to serve. 

What Is Evangelism? 

When evangelism is mentioned it often brings to mind 
only the more spectacular of the evangelists who have trav- 
eled the country during the past quarter of a century. All 
that the cartoonists have pictured and the newspaper para- 
graphers have written are remembered. Too frequently the 
entire matter is dismissed by the man in the street without 
further thought on this account. But evangelism is more 
than this. It is the presenting of the message of the Christ 
so as to secure its acceptance. It includes every form of 
effort to put the practical righteousness of the kingdom of 
Grod into the affairs of daily life. It meets the strange con- 
ception that evangelism and social service are two diverse 
things, and aims to show that they are but the reverse side of 
a practical experience. Evangelism is the call to the ac- 
ceptance of an experience which demonstrates itself in com- 
munity service. It recognizes the value of the camp meeting, 
but urges the addition of a training which will give practical 
value to the camp-meeting blessing. To the prayer for for- 
giveness for sin it would add that other prayer : 

"O Master, let me walk with thee 
In lowly paths of service free. 
Tell me thy secret; help me bear 
The strain of toil, the fret of care. 

"Help me the slow of heart to move 
By some clear, winning word of love; 
Teach me the wayward feet to stay, 
And guide them in the homeward way." 

Because thought and life are so closely related the 
church cannot use any halfway measures in its evangelistic 
efforts. Whole-heartedness must characterize every ven- 
ture. No opportunity must be lost, no matter how far it may 



THE CHALLENGE OF THE CHRIST 197 

be from the beaten path of ecclesiastical custom. The ap- 
proach to the Italian may be by one method, the approach 
to the Spanish-American by another. Because the life 
of the lumberjack in the far West differs from the tran- 
quillity of a New England village, both the type of min- 
ister and the form of message must be different. The 
strenuous deliverance of the gospel to men of "big busi- 
ness" in the city's busy marts of trade will not suit either 
in terminology or application the little country church 
at the crossroads. University students demand a very dif- 
ferent type of evangelism from that employed at a noonday 
shop meeting. The challenge to a crowd of human derelicts 
at a Bowery Mission is not adapted for a gathering of 
thoughtful mothers. It is this diversity of opportunity and 
the necessity for recognizing the proper approach that stim- 
ulates the modern minister to preparation not contemplated 
by our fathers. It is this need of knowing the best ways and 
the most efficient training that makes possible a unique serv- 
ice by the Department of Evangelism. 

A Vision from the Trenches 

The battlefields of Europe are testifying to the fact 
that vital religion is a profound necessity to every man. 
Through letters and story and poem the men in the trenches 
have let it be known that they are fighting for a spiritual 
ideal. No vision of aggrandizement for the land of their 
love blinds them. They see before them a day made pos- 
sible for the establishing of a Christian democracy worth 
dying for. As they write back home, many of them for the 
last time, their mind is on the condition of things here. The 
sight of their fellows slain in a ruthless slaughter has altered 
their viewpoint. What of the democracy at home? Is it 
feeling the influence of the unifying of the nations at the 
front! Will the same petty politics mar the records of the 
state? Will men defraud, cheat, deceive as they did before 
the flow of the blood of their sons began? Will the poor still 
be oppressed? Will class distinctions still hold? Their 



198 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

anxiety is not for themselves. They are glad to die for a 
cause that will make this world better. Their concern is as 
to whether or not those left will finish the task that they 
have begun. Will the old ways be discarded for new and 
better ways? Will America the beautiful become America 
the righteous? The agony of it reaches back across the 
ocean with a prayer for the establishment in fact of the ideal 
for which they are sacrificing everything. And woven 
into every such appeal is the suggestion and insistence that 
a democracy that is worthy the acceptance of the entire 
world cannot exist unless its foundations are religious. Not 
religious, however, in the sense of formal creeds alone, but 
religious in the way in which Jesus Christ himself exem- 
plified Christianity. The need of religion is frankly ex- 
pressed. Are we equal to meeting the need in the terms of the 
need itself? This is the question not only for the Depart- 
ment of Evangelism, but for every member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church in the United States. 

When we forget the content which the term "evangel- 
ism" has come to have in many sections of the country, and 
remember only our obligation as disciples of Jesus Christ 
to make him known to those about us, our path seems more 
clearly defined. Our chief difficulty then becomes one of 
discovering how best we may serve in the matter. This 
phase of the advance of the kingdom of God has received 
careful thought by both the Department of Evangelism and 
those leaders of the church who have been peculiarly useful 
in leading people into the active service of making attrac- 
tive to others the way of Christian democracy. The world 
cannot be made over by spasmodic attempts to change its 
viewpoint. There must be a concerted siege participated in 
by all the forces of Christianity. It is not a denominational 
sally that will win the day. The Church of Jesus Christ as 
a whole must be united in the fight. But the individual de- 
nomination must train and marshal its own forces. Its 
methods must be those which are best adapted to its peculiar 
form of church government. This fact brings a challenge to 



THE CHALLENGE OF THE CHRIST 199 

the Methodist Episcopal Church to outline ways and means 
for making its forces most serviceable for the day's needs. 
To this challenge the Department of Evangelism offers some 
suggestions as an answer. 

CONFERENCE EVANGELISTIC COOPERATION 

Church membership statistics show a gain one year and 
a loss the next. Various explanations are offered for this 
rise and fall. But not yet has there been made a local study 
of the causes which enter into the results. Every Annual 
Conference in the Methodist Episcopal Church should have 
an active Committee on Evangelism. It should be a work- 
ing committee composed of men of various ages so as to get 
the viewpoint of more than one generation and type of train- 
ing. Each district in the Conference should be represented 
so that no charge will be overlooked. Once organized, this 
committee has for its task the study of the conditions and 
needs of the Conference as a whole. It should endeavor to 
see that a proper type of evangelism is being promoted. It 
should recommend to the Conference plans which are 
adapted to the various kinds of communities where the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church ministers. 

Many a prayerful effort to stir the people on a Confer- 
ence district to a season of concerted effort to lead men to 
Christ has failed. Frequently the failure has been due to 
lack of knowledge of what should be done. In other in- 
stances there has been no goal. The prayers, the enthusi- 
asm, and the sacrifice have been swept away after a week or 
two because those participating did not know where their 
efforts were to lead. This is avoided when a district has a 
definite goal. Where specific plans are worked out before- 
hand it is easier to have the cooperation of one church with 
another. The right sort of organization will be effected. 
Men and women will recognize that results are expected. 
Pastors will realize in a new way personal responsibility in 
the matter. The additional power which comes from a con- 
sciousness that others are busy at the same definite task will 



200 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

be great. The idea that our local church is doing it all will 
vanish. The prayer, "Thy kingdom come," will have in it 
the thought of neighboring communities as well as our own. 
The vision of a Christian democracy for the world will grad- 
ually sweep away the barriers which prevent us from mak- 
ing certain a Christian democracy for our own community. 
This will necessitate dividing the district into smaller 
groups. But this very necessity will provide for the more 
personal study and making of plans. The local church will 
receive greater attention. Its needs, the sort of people to 
whom it should give it message, its resources in evangelistic 
workers will all be better discovered in this smaller group, 
The plans outlined by the Conference Committee on Evangel- 
ism and brought into concrete form as a goal by the district 
may here be further adjusted to the actual churches in which 
they are to be used. For when it comes to the local church, 
cognizance should be given to the plans which churches of 
other denominations have under way or are contemplating. 
This makes local cooperation possible and opens the way 
for simultaneous endeavor and more widespread effort and 
results. 

Evangelistic Coaching Conferences 

In order that every minister in the denomination may 
have the benefit of the best experience of the church in this 
matter coaching conferences are held by the Department of 
Evangelism. Ministers and selected laymen from a specific 
area are gathered together for a quiet discussion of evan- 
gelism with leaders in the church. Those who bring a mes- 
sage to these gatherings are men who have demonstrated in 
their own communities the effectiveness of what they say. 
Methods are compared and criticized. Problems peculiar to 
individual churches are discussed. A spirit of reconsecra- 
tion is sought in prayer. Reasons for failure are pointed 
out. Overwhelming needs are made concrete. The form of 
message for to-day is outlined, and the content of that mes- 
sage is made plain. It is a time of careful preparation by 



THE CHALLENGE OF THE CHRIST 201 

those to whom the churches look for guidance in the task for 
which they were established. These men in turn take what 
they have received to smaller groups in the Conference dis- 
tricts until the message of the coaching conference is 
brought to the active workers in every local church. 

When Laymen Ake Trained for Evangelism 

It is in the local Methodist Episcopal church where the 
intensive training for making the gospel message practical 
to the community must be carried on, for the church at large 
does not make much of an appeal to those needing the min- 
istry of the local church around the corner. We have had 
study classes in Bible, missions and social service, why not 
training classes for personal workers 1 The plaint of many 
laymen when urged to do definite evangelistic work is that 
they do not know how. Here is an opportunity to develop 
its forces that the church has too long neglected. Every 
church should have at least one training class for lay work- 
ers. They are the ones who come into closest contact with 
the very people to whom the church seeks to give the prin- 
ciples of Christian democracy. And they are desirous of 
serving in this way. The great numbers of gospel teams 
composed entirely of laymen, and usually of laymen recently 
converted, evidence this desire. Were these men properly 
trained for the service which they are now rendering with- 
out direction, their usefulness to their fellow men would be 
increased many fold. As it is they are teaching others first- 
hand the new way of life which they have been helped to dis- 
cover by some one else who knew about it. The possibilities 
of service by both men and women are beyond estimate. 
And what a stimulus such training would be to the young 
men and women who, loving their Master, know not just how 
to share their fellowship with others ! 

With a corps of men and women definitely trained for 
evangelistic service how different the community looks ! No 
urging is needed to make a canvass of the community to find 
out the dwellers in the parish to whom their church has said 



202 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

it would exemplify the Christ. With a new enthusiasm every 
living soul would be enrolled, whether they have any rela- 
tionship to the church or not. New points of contact will be 
established. People will suddenly realize that the church 
has an interest in them of which they were unaware. Reli- 
gious needs will be discovered. Opportunities will be pre- 
sented for talking about the Saviour. People are more in- 
different to religion than antagonistic to it. They are un- 
able to understand the church's interpretation of the Christ. 
Their thinking is for the most part in terms of the struggle 
to earn bread, provide a place of shelter, and raise their chil- 
dren in accordance with their conception of what is right. 
Unjust working conditions nullify what they think the 
church stands for. Unfair business dealings cause them to 
question the sincerity of church members. They have 
learned to symbolize the church by the one member of it who 
has failed to practice its teachings as they understand it. 
So they have passed the church by, wondering where the 
spiritual help which they need will come from. All this 
comes to light in a community canvass. And what a chance 
to clear the thinking of those thus found! Whatever may 
be the value of crowd-enthusiasm, people accept Christ for 
themselves individually. And individual by individual is the 
Kingdom built up and Christian democracy spread. 

A constant state of revival may well be expected with 
such a preparation of both the community and the members 
of the church. The conviction will grow within and without 
the church that there is a ceaseless business upon which the 
church of Jesus Christ is bent. ( i Power ' ' will be more than 
a word to such a church. Genuine work for Christian de- 
mocracy will result. Spiritual things will become the topic 
of daily conversation. The church on the corner will be- 
come the center of the community in a new sense. But is not 
this what ought to be the normal condition? Is there any 
other institution that should have a more definite place in 
the heart and mind of every individual who helps to make up 
the population? If there has been a failure to have such a 



THE CHALLENGE OF THE CHRIST 203 

condition exist, now is the time to change things. With the 
world trying to express its spiritual need, there should be 
such an enlivening of the church that there can be no ques- 
tion in the mind of anyone but that the Christ has the answer 
to every need. 

Accredited Evangelists 

Does this mean that the day of the vocational evangelist 
is past! Has the man specially trained and experienced in 
leading men and women into the light of gospel truth no 
more place in the program of the church? Must the local 
church, no matter how inefficient it may be, do its task all 
alone ? The evangelist is still needed. His work is to go on. 
But it is hoped that the local church will more and more fit 
itself to carry on its own work. For those churches which 
still are obliged to call in a vocational evangelist help is pro- 
vided. A Eegistration Bureau of Evangelists is being estab- 
lished by the Department of Evangelism. Here will be filed 
a record of the qualities and abilities of accredited Methodist 
Episcopal evangelists. When a church needs an evangelist 
it may write to the Department of Evangelism for help. By 
stating the local needs and problems, it is possible to have 
recommended an evangelist adapted to the community which 
the local church serves. In this way the evils attendant upon 
the ministry of the wandering evangelist will be overcome. 
The men recommended will all be Methodist Episcopal min- 
isters in good standing, whose evangelistic work in the past 
has stood the test of practical fruitfulness. It is a new ven- 
ture in providing the best in the presenting of the Christian 
message to those who must be won to its acceptance. 

Preachers Needed at "Soapbox Universities' ' 

Preachers of Christian democracy must be provided 
also for the numerous "soapbox universities" of our large 
cities. Nearly every other type of religion, economic 
thought, and life-philosophy has provided "professors" for 



204 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

these street-corner chairs of learning. They have recog- 
nized the value of presenting their claims where the people 
are. No moment of the day. is "out of season' ' for them. 
As the crowds go to and fro at the lunch hour, voice after 
voice challenges their attention for a few minutes. And in 
that brief moment they receive something to think about for 
a long time. Many of the doctrines promulgated by these 
teachers of the people are openly destructive of the best in 
life. Some strike at the very foundations of our national 
life. Others deride the spiritual ideals for which the church 
stands. All manner of teaching prevails. Nor are the teach- 
ers untrained for their task. They know their subject. 
They are familiar with the psychology of public speaking. 
They understand what the people who make up their audi- 
ence want to hear. They speak the language of the streets. 
The result is that they are planting destructive ideas in the 
minds of thousands. These must later be dislodged by 
long and painful effort on the part of those who would build 
the life of the nation on the ideals that gave us our present 
leadership. 

Shall the church not be among those with a message for 
the passer-by? It is no easy task to preach the gospel with 
another speaker twenty feet away on either side urging alien 
doctrines. But where is there a better chance to meet the 
questions which the people are seeking concerning life? 
They are not backward in objecting to dogmatism. They 
are alive to every weak point in the speaker's discourse. He 
must be sure of his message and of himself. This he ought 
to be anywhere. This he must be, here. The church must 
equip and support a large number of men for this work. It 
will aid the task done by the local church. It will set in mo- 
tion influences which will react without being checked up. 
The city and the State will be blessed by the new ideas 
hastily planted. And the nation itself will have cause to re- 
joice that the church is busy on the same corner where de- 
structive doctrines are weakening the faith of the people in 
the institutions of the land. 



THE CHALLENGE OF THE CHRIST 205 

A Message for the Toiler 

And what of the thousands in our industrial centers? 
They are unable to go outside of the factory at the noon 
hour. The message must be taken inside the factory to them. 
Much has been said of late about church and labor. But the 
man meant by " labor" is just as much a part of the national 
life as the man meant by ' ' church. ' ' If the latter has some- 
thing of value which the former has not, he should give 
it to him. But he will not some to church? Then take the 
message and ministry of the church to him. He needs it. 
He is made like all other men. The problems of earning a 
living and providing for his loved ones are the same in kind 
as those of everyone else. The joys of life appeal to him. 
Life's sorrows and misfortunes strike at his home. He is 
ambitious for his children. He would have his wife enjoy 
the best that he can provide for her. And he wants the min- 
istry of the church. When he does not receive it he accepts 
the ministry of the labor union in its place. The lodge be- 
comes his church. Its ministries, based upon the practice of 
the teachings of Christ, satisfy him. Thus he loses the in- 
spiration and helpfulness of the fellowship of the constituted 
church. His noon hour may be filled with a brief message of 
Christian hope. His doubts and misgivings as to the prac- 
ticability of the church may be explained away. He may be 
led to active fellowship with Christ and his family to a home 
in the church, by this simple factory service. Already it is 
being done in many shops. But the number of places where 
it is not done opens the way for nearly every local Meth- 
odist Episcopal church to have a part in this task. 

Evangelism of the Eye 

A most important form of evangelistic work is that 
carried on by means of the printed page. All great move- 
ments spread their message broadcast in the form of liter- 
ature. There are some who teach vagaries of faith who have 
the page of information so distributed as to catch the eye in 



206 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

all places. The best writers are employed to put the message 
into form and style that will appeal to the casual reader. 
Hundreds of devotees become voluntary distributors of it. 
People read it on the street cars, in waiting rooms and in 
their places of business. It is found everywhere. And its in- 
fluence is so great that one meets countless people who are 
ready to quote from it and defend it — people, too, whose 
knowledge of the subject is limited to the stray leaflet which 
accidentally fell into their hands. 

Evangelism of the eye often has a more lasting influ- 
ence than the evangelism of the ear. People forget the exact 
statement made by the speaker. It becomes confused with 
their own thinking or something heard or read at another 
time. There is no way of checking it up. With the printed 
page it is different. It may be read several times. It is al- 
ways on hand for reference. Careful study may be made of 
it. As a people we are rapidly becoming eye-minded. The 
best reports of important events are those which we see in 
print or through pictures. Many public speakers distribute 
the gist of their message in printed form so that those hear- 
ing it may go over it again in their homes. The day of the 
leaflet for purposes of promulgating ideas is not yet past. 

Possibly the reason for thinking that leaflet literature 
belongs to a past age is the failure of many religious organ- 
izations to keep their literature up to date. Printed in 
funereal form with sermonic style, there has been no great 
demand for it. When given all the advantages of good print- 
ing and forceful style it is another story. People want to 
know. Many of them are unable to go where they may learn. 
The printed page comes into their home with all the famili- 
arity of an old friend. It is read and discussed. More of 
the same sort is sought. 

Has the church a message which can go to the people in 
this form? There is no question as to that. The question 
is, "Will the church arise to this chance to further the work 
which it is trying to do 1 ' ' There are those who can write the 
message. There are those who would scatter it broadcast 



THE CHALLENGE OF THE CHRIST 207 

were it available. It remains only for the church to provide 
funds for this purpose. Already some of this literature is in 
process of preparation. It is varied for the people by whom 
it will be read. Some of it will be used to counteract rabid 
socialistic doctrines. Some will go to those upset by anarch- 
ism. The foreigner, with his little knowledge of the English 
language, will have a message on Christian democracy in his 
native tongue. Those who scorn the church will have an 
appeal in their own terminology. The program is long and 
varied. Will it be worth while! There is hardly another 
channel through which the Christian message will flow more 
easily and to greater advantage to those who receive it. We 
are entering upon a day when the church must increase its 
output of the printed message many times. It will be in ac- 
cordance with the printing used in modern advertising. It 
will be read in the terminology of daily life. It will be on 
fire with the Spirit of Jesus Christ. It will take him to 
places where his disciples are unable to go. It will plead the 
cause of the kingdom of God by firesides where any other 
messenger of the cross would be refused. The doctrines of 
Christian democracy will be repeated again and again in 
daily conversation. The day of our hope will be wonder- 
fully advanced. 

The Sunday School and the Epwokth League 

This broader vision of Christian service is being taught 
to-day in the Sunday schools of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. Through the labors of the Board of Sunday 
Schools there has been gradually introduced a curriculum 
of Bible study which relates the principles and teachings of 
Christianity to the problems of everyday life for all ages 
from childhood to old age. By means of institutes held 
throughout the country, Sunday school officers and teachers 
are being instructed both in the processes of religious edu- 
cation and the intelligent leading of boys and girls into fel- 
lowship with Jesus Christ. Thus, early in life the practice 



208 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

of Christian democracy is given actual relationship to Chris- 
tian ' ' experience. ' ' 

The Epworth League likewise is training its members 
for Christian service and evangelistic endeavor. The 
summer institutes of instruction and recreation are the 
training schools of thousands of young men and young 
women. Here they learn the meaning of Christian life in 
terms of relationship to the problems of Christian demo- 
cracy. As leaders for Bible and mission study classes they 
take with them to their local chapter both knowledge and in- 
spiration. From the counsel received they become winners 
for Christ of the intimate friend called "chum." By com- 
parison of methods they learn the first lessons in the task of 
church leadership for the days ahead. Loyalty to country 
and to God is the foundation of their enthusiastic effort to 
make the appeal of Christian fellowship attractive to those 
of their own age. From the camps, the trenches, the battle- 
ships, and the air fleet, comes the assuring news that the 
work of the Sunday school and the Epworth League has been 
so well done that it is counting to-day as a helpful force with 
our boys who are now fighting for the ideals of Christian 
democracy as a world proposition. 

The Sign of a Geeat Hope 

A new note has been struck in our national life. Born 
of the sorrow and suffering of war, it sounds alike in the 
market place and in the home. It is extremely personal in 
its expression. Hearts break in sounding it. Strong men 
give way to emotion at hearing it. But with it has come the 
sign of a great hope. America, in cooperation with the 
Allies, sent her armies forth in response to the demands of 
a spiritual ideal. To demonstrate that right is greater than 
might, her sons lie buried in France and at the bottom of the 
sea. Men are asking what it all means. An interpreter for 
the age is asked for. The Church of Jesus Christ is respond- 
ing with the message of the Master phrased in terms of the 
day in which we live. 



THE CHALLENGE OF THE CHRIST 209 

In order that this message may be so interpreted that 
every man, woman, and child shall understand, the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church is pushing its missionaries into every 
nook and corner of the land. In order that they may be 
properly equipped for their task it is furnishing them with 
material means beyond anything it has ever undertaken be- 
fore. In order to secure this money the church is asking its 
entire membership to share with its leaders in making pos- 
sible the new conquest. What a response to the conditions 
prevailing in the communities of the land! In city, town, 
and village, the people are being summoned to do big things 
for the sake of the kingdom of God. And this not that a 
denominational church may be glorified, but in order that 
Christian democracy may be the dominating force in the life 
of the people. Young men and young women are being 
called to carry our democracy to the ends of the earth. 
World responsibility is being recognized in a large way. 
And the first essentials are being provided for by an ade- 
quate teaching and practice of Christian democracy at home. 

The Day Dawns — Ake We Awake ? 

What of the morrow? The outlook is fair and hopeful. 
When the church teaches the principles of Christian de- 
mocracy so that the common spiritual needs of every citizen 
are met in Jesus Christ, we may send forth the news to all 
the earth that American democracy is the answer to their 
cry for national foundations which will not only endure, but 
make better the nation from year to year. The church is at 
its task. The Methodist Episcopal Church is on the quest 
for $80,000,000 to help in doing its part of the task at home 
and abroad. Its celebration of a hundred years of its mis- 
sionary activities is in the form of an advance to even 
greater things. Four million members of the church are 
back of the movement. Some of the success of the new day 
depends upon the securing of the money needed to do the 
task. This success depends upon the individual who wants 
the world to have the privileges and blessings prized by him. 



210 CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA 

Christian democracy will guide the affairs of America just 
as soon as you practice it and make possible its teaching to 
your fellows along the way ! 

Questions for Discussion 

1. What is our present responsibility with reference to 
Christian democracy? 

2. Discuss the religious questions which war has 
brought to the surface. 

3. Show in what ways the Methodist Episcopal Church 
has always been evangelistic. 

4. What are some of the new points of contact, from a 
religious viewpoint, to which evangelism must give heed ? 

5. In what ways has the church ministered to our boys 
in khaki and blue ? 

6. What is the Department of Evangelism? What is 
its task? 

7." What do you understand evangelism to embrace ? 

8. Discuss the new vision which has come to us from 
the trenches. 

9. How may an Annual Conference be organized effec- 
tively for evangelistic work ? A district ? 

10. Discuss the value of training laymen for evangel- 
istic work. How may this training be done ? 

11. What is an accredited evangelist? 

12. Discuss the "soap-box university' ' and its need of 
strong preachers. 

13. How may industrial toilers be ministered to in 
their shops ? 

14. Discuss the evangelism of the eye. How may its 
usefulness be increased? 

15. What new note has been struck in our national life ? 

16. Discuss Methodism's great movement for world- 
democracy. 

17. What is our personal responsibility for making 
America a Christian democracy? 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The Soul of Democracy. By Edward Howard Griggs. $1.25. 

America — Here and Over There. By Luther B. Wilson. 75 cents. 

Trail Tales. By J. D. Gillilan. 75 cents. 

Frontier Missionary Problems. By Bruce Kinney. $1.25. 

The Frontier. By Ward Piatt, 60 cents. 

Brother Van. By Stella W. Brummitt, 60 cents. 

Introduction to Rural Sociology. By Paul L. Vogt. $2.50. 

The Church in the City. By Bishop Frederick D. Leete. $1.00. 

The Rural Church Serving the Community. By Edwin L. Earp. 75 

cents. 
The American Rural School. By Harold W. Foght. $1.25. 
The Study of a Rural Parish. By Ralph A. Felton. 50 cents. 
Sons of Italy. By Antonio Mangano. 60 cents. 
Immigrant Forces. By William P. Shriver. 60 cents. 
The Immigrant and the Community. By Grace Abbott. $1.50. 
Leadership for the New America. By Archibald McClure. $1.25. 
The Challenge of Pittsburgh. By Daniel L. March. 60 cents. 
The Challenge of St. Louis. By George B. Mangold. 60 cents. 
Tht Redemption of the South End. By E. C. E. Dorion. $1.00. 
The Gospel for a Working World. By Harry F. Ward. 60 cents ; paper, 

10 cents. 
Youi Negro Neighbor. By Benjamin G. Brawley. 60 cents. 
Methodism and the Negro. By I. L. Thomas. $1.00. 
A Short History of the American Negro. By Benjamin G. Brawley. $1.25. 
The New Country Church Building. By Edwin de S. B runner. 75 cents. 
The American Indian on the New Trail. By Thomas C. Moffett, 60 cents. 
The Klondike Clan. By S. Hall Young. $1.35. 
Advance in the Antilles. By Howard B. Grose. 60 cents. 
Down in Porto Rico. By George Milton Fowles. 75 cents. 
Social Evangelism. By Harry F. Ward. 50 cents ; post., 8 cents. 
Educational Evangelism. By Bruce Kinney. 75 cents. 
Every Church Its Own Evangelist. By Loren M. Edwards. 50 cents. 
Letters on Evangelism. By Edwin H. Hughes. 25 cents ; post., 3 cents. 
Religious Education and Democracy. By Benjamin S. Winchester. 

$1.50. 
In Our First Year of War. By Woodrow Wilson. $1.00. 
The New Democracy. By Walter E. Weyl. $2.00. 

Our Democracy, Its Origins and Its Tasks. By James H. Tufts. $1.50. 
The Oregon Missions. By James W. Bashford. $1.25. 
Brigham Young and His Mormon Empire. By Cannon and Knapp. 

Leaflet literature on all phases of Home Missions and Church 
Extension Work may be secured, without charge, by writing to the 
Board of Home Missions and Church Extension of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, 1701 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 



APPENDIX 

THE CENTENARY OF METHODIST MISSIONS IN A NUTSHELL. 

1 A Celebration of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the organiza- 
tion of the Methodist Missionary Society. 

2 A World Program based on careful surveys of need and opportunity. 

3 A campaign to release the prayer power of the church by enrolling 
tens of thousands in the Fellowship of Intercession, and training them as 
prayer helpers. 

4 A stewardship drive to secure the enrollment of a million Method- 
ists who will acknowledge their stewardship by the payment of the tithe. 

5 An appeal for life service to recruit a large number of new workers 
for the ministry, home and foreign missions, and for service in the local 
church. 

6 Special Centenary activities in the Epworth League, featuring stew- 
ardship, prayer, and mission study, with a thorough presentation of the 
Centenary message and methods at all institutes. 

7 A movement to make the Sunday school missionary in spirit, and 
to insure a very definite expression of this spirit through prayer and offer- 
ings of money and life. The Sunday school financial goal is $10,000,000. 

8 Unprecedented publicity through the church papers, Missionary 
News, World Outlook, the Centenary Bulletin and the secular press. 

9 A church-wide educational campaign with mission study, mission- 
ary instruction in the Sunday school, and the use of lantern slides, charts, 
posters, and other pictorial materials. 

10 The enlistment and training of at least one hundred thousand 
leaders to carry the Centenary message and methods to the last member 
and adherent of the Methodist Church. ' 

11 A nation-wide organization of the country by territorial divisions, 
conferences, districts, groups, and local churches. 

12 An allotment of financial goals to be voluntarily accepted by every 
district and local church in Methodism. 

13 A national simultaneous ten-day financial drive to secure pledges 
for eighty million dollars, to be paid during a period of five years. 

14 A series of great meetings throughout the church to inspire and 
inform the membership. 

15 A central patriotic Centenary Celebration at Columbus, Ohio, in 
June, 1919. The general theme of the program to be, "The Christian 
Crusade for World Democracy." 

16 World-wide extension and conservation to sustain and surpass the 
standards of devotion and giving set by the Centenary. 

213 



214 APPENDIX 

HOME MISSIONS AND THE CENTENARY OP METHODIST 
EPISCOPAL MISSIONS 

In celebrating the Centenary of Methodist Episcopal Missions, as 
authorized by the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church at Saratoga Springs in 1916, the Board of Home Missions and 
Church Extension of the Methodist Episcopal Church plans the following 
program. Full details may be secured by writing to the Joint Centenary 
Committee, 111 Fifth Avenue, New York city. The items are here given 
in the order which corresponds to their treatment in the text of the book. 
The first figure in each instance is the number of projects, the second the 
amount needed to finance them. This figure is the Centenary asking for a 
period of five years. 

CHAPTER I. 

DEMOCRACY'S FOUNDATIONS 

The building of more and better churches and the aiding in the sup- 
port of ministers of high caliber in the frontier. 

Equipment 874 $1,039,800 

Maintenance 795 950,085 

Total $1,989,885 

CHAPTER II. 

THE RURAL OPPORTUNITY 

The carrying out of all the rural projects included by district superin- 
tendents in their Centenary statements; a campaign for increasing the 
efficiency of the rural ministry; cooperation with other agencies in estab- 
lishing effective training for rural leadership. 

1. Favorable Rural Communities 

Equipment 1,110 $1,889,050 

Maintenance. 1,101 1,245,275 

Total $3,134,325 

2. Isolated Rural Communities 

Equipment 142 $383,550 

Maintenance 367 582,180 

Total $965,730 

3. Industrial Rural Communities 

Equipment 99 $528,850 

Maintenance 152 484,740 

Total $1,013,590 



APPENDIX 215 

4. Highlanders of the South 

Equipment 158 $294,050 

Maintenance 115 203,150 

Total $497,200 

CHAPTER III. 

OUR FUTURE CITIZENS 
ITALIANS 

The strengthening of certain Italian centers where successful work is 
being accomplished. Building churches suitable for the Italians' need of 
color and life. The inaugurating of the program on page 71. 

Equipment 50 $961,800 

Maintenance 131 636,300 

Total $1,598,100 

Eastern European Groups 

The Christianizing and Americanizing of the Eastern European 
groups. The establishment of churches and missions. The betterment of 
their social life, The circulation of good literature. Strong, well-organized 
evangelistic campaigns. These peoples include the following groups: 
Slav, Lettic, Finno-Ugric, and Semitic. 

Equipment 33 $487,300 

Maintenance 72 318,190 

Total $805,490 

Miscellaneous Foreign-Speaking Groups 

Social service and welfare work is planned for these people by means of 
language pastors, directors of religious education, women workers, visiting 
nurses, and deaconesses connected with English-speaking churches. Evan- 
gelistic campaigns, classes for speaking English, efforts to lift the stand- 
ard of living, and movements to Americanize are part of the program 
planned for these Finns, Syrians, French-Canadians, Armenians, and 
Greeks. 

Equipment 7 $76,500 

Maintenance 26 122,250 

Total $198,750 

CHAPTER IV. 
"WHERE CROSS THE CROWDED WAYS OF LIFE" 
Industrial Groups in the City 

Initiating a program of evangelism, religious education, and social 
uplift. Building neighborhood churches in polyglot industrial communities. 



216 APPENDIX 

Establishing community churches in neglected sections. Adding parish 
houses to the equipment of old family churches for general institutional 
work. Providing a personnel to consist of the modern type of social 
service expert. 

Equipment 230 $4,799,950 

Maintenance 434 1,962,850 

Total $6,762,800 

Downtown-Transient-Polyglot Masses 

The building of new and well-equipped churches which can supply facil- 
ities for religious education, lectures, classes, clubs, and general recreation. 
Remodeling family churches in such neighborhoods so that they can con- 
form to their new program. Establishing dormitories as a step in solving 
the lodging-house problem. Establishing downtown clinics; supplying 
special workers. Organizing classes in religious education, English, 
hygiene, domestic science, and industrial crafts. Making the church a 
center for Americanizing influences and training in citizenship. 

Equipment 51 $5,945,000 

Maintenance 178 863,750 

Total $6,808,750 

Strategic City and Suburban Fields 

Furnishing a stimulus to building churches in promising fields by 
giving part of the cost. Building new churches in fields already occupied, 
but where the present plant is totally inadequate; keeping the standard of 
church buildings up to mark set by municipal and private buildings; 
improving and enlarging churches where the growth of the district 
requires it; giving pastoral aid so that able men may be secured for the 
critical years following the founding of a new church; and making the 
church a center for community life, especially in the suburbs, by organiz- 
ing clubs, social affairs and lecture courses. 

Equipment 755 $5,827,650 

Maintenance 511 935,250 

Total $6,762,900 

CHAPTER V. 

THE NEGRO AND THE CHURCH 

The Negro in the South 

The developing of a better-trained ministry. Church buildings adapted 
to community service. Typical community centers in agricultural dis- 
tricts. Model parsonages in selected places as demonstrations of home 



APPENDIX 217 

life. Cooperation with other denominations. Study of conditions in all 
Negro communities as to industrial, social, moral, and religious needs. Etc. 

Equipment 808 $1,684,850 

Maintenance 600 903,825 

Total $2,588,675 

The Negro in the North 

The immediate building of more churches. Enlarging of those already 
built. Supplying the pulpits with men able to guide the newcomers in 
readjusting their lives. Furnishing community centers for lectures and 
recreation. Giving the young people wholesome amusements. Providing 
temporary quarters for Negro girls and women just entering the city. 
Organizing domestic science courses so that women who were plantation 
laborers in the South may learn a new means of livelihood. 

Equipment 125 $1,164,250 

Maintenance 116 219,350 

Total $1,383,600 

CHAPTER VI. 

CHRISTIAN DEMOCRACY POWER PLANTS 

Church extension work is listed in all of the tabulations placed under 
the other chapters. It is a part of practically every phase of the Centenary 
Program. We list here only 

The Development of Christian Leadership 

Strengthening regular churches located near student groups, by help- 
ing to get special equipment and better leadership. Providing a student 
building or Wesley foundation in State and independent institutions 
attended by large numbers of Methodist students. Appropriating $125,000 
to be expended in fellowships and scholarships for students who show 
promise of becoming effective leaders. Providing special conferences and 
limited training for ministers already in the field who cannot leave their 
pastorates. Establishing training schools for Christian leadership in con- 
nection with the following institutions: 

1. Boston University, using Morgan Memorial as the laboratory. 

2. The Church of All Nations, New York city, in connection with 
Columbia University. 

3. Smithfield Street, Pittsburgh, in connection with the University 
cultural group of Allegheny County. 

4. The Chicago Training School. 

5. A program of training for Rural Leadership in connection with 
State Agricultural Colleges. 

6. The Mid-Pacific Institute, Hawaii. 

7. Furnishing enlarged educational facilities in Porto Rico and in 



218 APPENDIX 

the Pacific Southwest for training leaders to work among Latin- 

Amercans. 

Equipment 51 $2,195,800 

Maintenance 74 498,650 

Total $2,694,450 

CHAPTER VII. 

VARIANTS OP THE TASK 

Mormon Territory 

Building new churches, and strengthening old ones, so that Meth- 
odism can continue to stand for Christianity, education, and patriotism 
in the heart of the Mormon territory. Creating a strong evangelical pro- 
gram to hold those already affiliated with the church; influencing the Mor- 
mons into laying more emphasis on the Bible, and attracting both dis- 
satisfied Mormons, and those with no religion. Making a special effort to 
reach the young people in the colleges and universities. One of the pro- 
jects which the Centenary is asked to help is the building of a $100,000 
church and student center near the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. 
Aiding in pastoral support so that capable men may be obtained. 

Equipment 46 $122,250 

Maintenance 32 87,300 

Total $209,550 

The North American Indian 

The appointment of more resident missionaries speaking an Indian 
language. The training of native Indian preachers. The establishment 
of more Sunday schools. The appointment of Indian women workers, to 
bring Christianity to the women and children on the reservations, to teach 
sanitation and domestic science. Greater cooperation with other Protes- 
tant denominations. 

Equipment 5 $5,950 

Maintenance 30 122,500 

Total $128,450 

Latin-Americans 

The evangelization of Latin-Americans by large-visioned pastors, and 
directors of religious education of their own nationality. Providing 
trained and capable women workers, besides American religious directors 
with administrative ability, who can plan community programs. Lifting 
the standard of the gospel appeal by better facilities in buildings, location, 
and equipment. Americanizing the Latin-Americans and making citizens 
of them. Adapting Morgan Memorial ideas to Latin-American needs. 
Relieving cases of physical need through constructive and mutually self- 
respecting social work. Recruiting leaders in community uplift by pro- 



APPENDIX 219 

viding a complete course of practical industrial work, such as is given at 
Hampton Institute. Promoting friendly relations on the border by- 
counteracting efforts to embroil Mexico and the United States. 

Equipment 115 $733,450 

Maintenance 123 568,950 

Total $1,302,400 

Oriental Missions of the Pacific Coast 
the chinese 

Greater efforts to reach the Chinese in population centers. The open- 
ing of new day schools. Further development of the Sunday school. The 
appointment of traveling missionaries to reach the Chinese in scattered 
rural communities. 

Equipment 6 $24,000 

Maintenance 20 64,750 

Total $88,750 

THE JAPANESE 

The establishment of supplementary day schools to provide what our 
public schools cannot give. Aid in reestablishing the Japanese Christian 
press. Increasing dormitory accommodations for single men. Greater 
efforts and efficiency in Sunday-school work in order to keep pace with 
the rapidly increasing number of Japanese children. Special stress is laid 
on the proposed new Japanese Church at Los Angeles. 

Equipment 7 $33,800 

Maintenance 33 67,410 

Total $101,210 

The Alaskan Mission 

The appointment of more pastors and a general missionary to cover 
the whole field. 

Equipment 3 $22,500 

Maintenance 10 54,000 

Total $76,500 

The Hawaiian Mission 

The appointment of more Japanese, Korean, and Filipino pastors who 
have been trained in America, and who speak English. The establish- 
ment of a minimum salary of $900 a year for married pastors, so that the 
Church will secure an adequate working force for this difficult field. 
Extensive development of the Sunday school to keep pace with the rapidly 
growing Oriental birth-rate, especially the Japanese and Filipino. 

Equipment * 15 $433,275 

Maintenance 61 208,150 

Total $641,425 



220 



APPENDIX 



The Porto Rican Mission 

The establishment of more churches and chapels throughout the coun- 
try districts. The appointment of more native church workers. The pro- 
viding of these leaders with a higher education than offered by the public 
schools. Special attention in both the schools and churches to training 
in citizenship. Cooperation with other denominations in non-sectarian 
educational work. 

Equipment , 68 $118,220 

Maintenance 24 95,660 

Total $213,880 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE CHALLENGE OP THE CHRIST 

The program of the Department of Evangelism as discussed in this 
chapter furnishes the types of projects for the Centenary. 

Maintenance 48 $201,000 



Total 



$201,000 



CENTENARY PROGRAM TOTALS SUMMARIZED BY SUBJECTS 

MATERIAL TOTAL CENTENARY 

EQUIPMENT NO. COST ASKINGS 

New buildings 2,506 $53,038,950 $24,277,295 

Remodeling 1,035 5,594,700 2,794,900 

Parsonages 1,188' 2,560,700 983,650 

Special 43 813,000 716,000 

Total 4,772 $62,007,350 $28,771,845 

MAINTENANCE CENTENARY 

Ministers— N0 - askings 

a. Missionary 1,344 $2,487,525 

&. Self-supporting in 5 years 2,220 2,428,435 

Language Pastors 250 1,037,260 

Directors of Religious Education 258 1,563,850 

Women Workers 486 1,587,610 

Deaconesses 131 270,835 

Superintendents 46 396,650 

District Missionary Aid ; 155 532,900 

District Evangelists 48 168,500 

Others 115 772,000 

Total 5,053 $11,265,565 

GRAND TOTAL, $40,037,410. 



TO UNDERSTAND WHAT 
WORLD DEMOCRACY MEANS 

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